Animal feed trading business Thomas Mawer Ltd is bullish about its prospects for the future after riding out the challenges of Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine.
MD Daniel Chilvers said the company is motivated by a move to new premises, a buoyant balance sheet and the responsibility from a switch two years ago to employee ownership.
It is also inspired by a crucial shift made in the 1990s by Daniel’s predecessors, who diversified from trading animal by-products and animal fats from the rendering industry as the BSE crisis unfolded.
He said: “We have a good foundation from the former owners who built the company over the years, but we don’t get carried away when times are good and we don’t get too down when it’s hard.
“For last year we did £100m turnover which was a record, but that’s partly down to the cost of the raw material prices shooting up over the last 18 months. We work on very narrow margins which tend to get smaller as raw material prices rise.
“My shareholders are also my staff so I have a slightly different role to most managing directors, but we have a workforce that’s a cut above because we have people who are interested and have a stake in the company. We have successfully rebuilt our balance sheet since buying the business and there’s nothing stopping us going out and funding new developments”
Thomas Mawer Ltd employs 19 people across offices in Essex, Hereford and Hull city centre, where the business opened 45 years ago and still has its HQ, at Chariot House in Carr Lane.
The company buys raw materials and commodities from all over the world and the UK and sells to animal feed companies and feed manufacturers, including most of the feed mills in Yorkshire who then supply the county’s farmers.
Daniel said: “We are relatively big in terms of turnover but tiny in a huge market with some very big players. But we find our niche. We can take things on that others can’t and we are fairly light on our feet. That enables us to get out of things that aren’t making money and move into other activities.
“We don’t own any assets. Lorries, drivers, bagging and storage are all third party. We focus on trading and serving our customers as best we can. We just hope our selling prices are higher than our buying prices!.”
Daniel is from Hull and joined Thomas Mawer Ltd five years ago as a trader, a job which still accounts for 80 per cent of his workload even after colleagues supported his appointment as their MD when they bought the business in 2020.
One of his first big decisions was to find the new premises. He said: “Our lease was up and instead of simply signing a new one we felt it would be prudent to see what else was available. Charlie Allenby was here when I came for a look and he was very keen and enthusiastic and proud of what they have done with Paragon Arcade next door and that gave us a bit of a lift.
“It was clear they really care about the buildings, they are interested in the tenants and they care about the city and I buy into that. I want my staff to feel that the business is the priority but you also want something wider to ground you in a project that’s meaningful for the city.”
The transition to an employee ownership model is just one of a long list of challenges that the business has overcome.
