INTERVIEW: Stuart Hancock, Magnavale – from bunnies to big business

From breeding rabbits as a child to launching one of the UK’s leading coldstore and distribution firms – making savvy business decisions has never been difficult for Stuart Hancock.

Hancock, founder member and co-owner of Chesterfield headquartered multi-temperature logistics company Magnavale, has helped steer the group to success following a series of acquisitions.

Magnavale is parent company to temperature controlled storage specialists Rick Bestwick, Rick Bestwick (North), Lancaster Coldstore and CM North West. It has also signed an exclusive deal for the provision of logistics with DFDS Logistics, Europe’s largest logistics provider.

Since its foundation in 2013, the group has seen rapid growth boasting over 1 million sq ft of warehouse space and 200,000 pallet capabilities. And with the sights firmly set on success, 2016 promises to be another bumper year.

The achievements are nothing new to Hancock who got his first taste of being an entrepreneur as a child. Growing up in a farming family, breeding and selling rabbits to the local pet shops was an ideal enterprise for the then seven-year-old.

“I soon realised the cost of breeding and looking after the rabbits outweighed the profit,” he said. “It wasn’t a viable business, so I gave it up.”

First good business move achieved, it wasn’t long before Hancock turned his attentions to his next – Phil Hanley – a logistics firm jointly owned by his father, Jack Hancock, with Michael Philip and Jerry Smalley. Later, Hancock gained a stake in the company by purchasing Jerry Smalley’s shares.

From preparing trucks for MOT at 16, he progressed to working in the transport office where he discovered an enthusiasm for all-things logistics.

By 19, he was transport manager, responsible for running a fleet of trucks and went on to grow the business by winning major contracts and turning the firm into a multi-site operation with 150 vehicles.

“I never wanted to drive the trucks, but I was always interested in food and the movement of goods,” said Hancock.

“It makes no sense for a product to travel from one location, to the other end of the country, and then back again. By taking links out of the supply chain we can reduce food miles, drive efficiency and ultimately cut costs. I’m all about streamlining the supply chain and always have been.”

Over the next 20 years Hancock helped to turn Phil Hanley Limited into a £25 million turnover company by securing a series of high profile clients across the foodservice sector. After the firm was bought-out in 2005, he founded Seguro Logistics and also worked as a consultant for major foodservice names.

Shortly after, Hancock’s expertise attracted the attention of the Marr family – Europe’s largest supplier of ice products.

He said: “Acting as a consultant for J. Marr Group, I was asked to identify a location to build a coldstore. The experience highlighted the massive growth potential in coldstore investment.

“Taking on this challenge was one of the best business decisions I have ever made.”

After handing the Marr coldstore site in South Kirby, Pontefract, over to the sixth-generation family firm, Hancock went on to set up Via Coldstores which saw him rent out a series of coldstore sites formerly owned by Innovate Logistics.

It was through this he met property magnate, Stephen Lawrence. Together the pair launched Magnavale – the other highlight of Stuart’s career to date.

Hancock, who lives in Lincolnshire, said: “Stephen’s property knowledge and my logistics experience has allowed us to achieve all that we have.

“Magnavale has grown from 22,000 pallets in 2011 to 200,000 pallets in 2015. The growth opportunities the firm presented massively hit all my aspirations of size.”
The companies within the Magnavale family operate as a network of independent businesses enabling the group to offer the agility and flexibility required to meet customers’ needs.

With the Rick Bestwick site in Chesterfield and Rick Bestwick (North)’s site in Scunthorpe, the two companies together house the country’s largest blast freezing capacity, as well as providing market leading microwave and rapid air tempering systems, and advanced coding, sleeving and co-packing services.

Lancaster Coldstore offers 150,000 sq. ft. of temperature controlled storage through sites in Lancaster and Simonswood, Liverpool. The ‘one stop’ shop for global distribution provides packing and order picking services, mobile racking and advanced technology linking customers with individual stock levels. Through the link to DFDS, it also has access to a fleet of 40ft temperature controlled, GPS tracked vehicles to deliver frozen, chilled and ambient food products throughout the UK and Europe.

Warrington-based CM North West operates a 130,000 sq ft temperature controlled, multi-functional BRC accredited warehouse facility that stores both frozen and chilled products.

After extending its reach across the north of England, Hancock has now set his sights on the rest of the UK, whilst a strategy to establish Magnavale as a leading manufacturing and food services distribution partner is also on the cards.

The next big goal for the company is to enter the next step of the supply chain and Hancock is looking for a retail business partner to take this forward.

He said: “We have brought together a set of complementary businesses which allows us to regionalise our customers. It all comes back to reducing food miles, improving efficiency and ultimately lowering costs.

“That has been one of the biggest changes in the coldstore and distribution industry over the past 10 years. Manufacturers don’t have vast amounts of storage space and increasingly want products ‘just in time.’

“Magnavale’s agility and flexibility means we can meet that need. We can up-temper a product on Monday and it will be in a deli counter for sale on Wednesday.

“Everything came to fruition in 2015 and 2016 will be a year of consolidation enabling us to build on that success.”

And in the future?

“We’ve rolled out services in manufacturing, foodservice, added-value and bulk storage, the next logical move is retail storage and retail distribution,” said Stuart. “To do that we are actively looking to buy a new network of businesses.

“We firmly believe that the best business model for multi-temperature logistics companies is that of the SME which benefits from distinctive local qualities and USPs. Our aim is to retain these characteristics whilst bringing together these companies and supporting them to become a national and international presence.”

But with career spanning back to his childhood, Hancock knows success is built from the bottom-up.

He added: “You are only as good as your people. If you get the training and nurturing right then you have the foundations to take you forward.”

And if Magnavale is anything to go by, then it’s certainly a mantra which works.