Discussion about this post

User's avatar
George's avatar

Hi Todd, This is a higher quality business than people appreciate and I agree that the reporting/management communication is excellent. Worth noting that Matthew Ingle has family pedigree in the joinery/timber trade- while it's not a family owned business there are cultural similarities. His book, Kitchens, or Sink, is worth reading.

FWIW, I don't see them attempting a US expansion. Management are a conservative bunch and they see the French expansion as a learning exercise. If it really gains traction there, that would keep them busy for 10+ years anyway.

Finally, it's worth noting that the depots take about 7 years to reach maturity. If they were to stop expanding the network and allow the existing depots to mature operating margins would easily trend towards the high teens.

I'm quite bullish on this business- there's a nice balance here between growth, dividends and buybacks and management and strategy are both proven. My best bet is that UK consumer confidence improves over the next couple of years, but regardless this is a business with a proven ability to weather a cycle and the balance sheet is very strong.

Expand full comment
Christophe's avatar

This is a great write-up.

The annual report is indeed wonderful and should be a model for many companies.

This is neither an “owner-operator" model neither a family-owned company but they managed to create and maintain a great culture.

The name was mentioned by Meryl Witmer in a Barron's Roundtable in 2017.

Expand full comment
18 more comments...

No posts