Andy Thornton targets £20m turnover after strong start to year

YORKSHIRE firm Andy Thornton is aiming to increase its turnover to more than £20m within two years after enjoying a 37% rise in sales in the first quarter of the year thanks to projects including fitting out an Indian cricket club and a Romanian shopping centre.

The Elland firm, which is the largest dealer of architectural antiques in the UK, has seen the metalwork side of its business grow on the back of the smoking ban as it wins increasing orders for metal canopies for smoking areas for pubs, clubs and restaurants.

The company, which under went a management buyout (MBO) from the eponymous founder Andy Thornton and his wife Kate in November 2005 led by managing director Peter Siddall, saw turnover increase by 18% or £3m last year to top £16m.

Mr Siddall said that following the strong start to 2008 it has a good order book for the rest of the year driven by its growing export business which he expects to represent 40% of sales this year.

“With sterling continuing to weaken against other currencies this can only help us achieve our aim,” commented Mr Siddall.

The company has recently launched a new website and Mr Siddall added: “We plan to grow sales turnover to over £20m within the next two to three years and with first quarter sales in 2008 up 37% and an order book almost double that of the same period last year, there is every reason to be optimistic.”

Andy Thornton has the biggest contract furniture showroom in the UK – housed in a 60,000 sq ft former textile mill at Greetland, near Halifax – and more than 50% of business is designing and contracting for overseas customers such as theme parks and shopping centres, while it also supplies lighting and furniture and other decorations for pubs, hotels and shops.

The company’s contracts division is currently completing a £500,000 project for the hospitality suite of the Mumbai Cricket Academy in India and a £500,000 bar refurbishment in Menorca.

It has recently secured a £4m order to fit-out shop fronts and signage at retail outlets in Poland and Romania and orders for bars for existing customers in Norway and the USA.

It has supplied decorative metalwork for the entrances to the Disney theme parks in both Hong Kong and Paris.

The architectural metalwork department at Andy Thornton is also experiencing a sustained period of growth, having achieved a 30% sales increase in the past two years, and is on target to further boost turnover in 2008 which would be its best ever year.

This growth comes on the back of considerable financial investment in this part of the business doubling the size of the department’s manufacturing space, the appointment of an experienced new manager and adding three skilled fabricators to the workforce.

The smoking ban has helped drive this growth in business with the demand for external metalwork structures for pubs, bars, clubs and other commercial buildings.

These have also become popular for al fresco dining, as bar and restaurant groups increasingly look to profit from the areas outside their venues.

Recently completed projects by Andy Thornton include the design, manufacture and installation of several large glazed canopies around the new restaurant building at Boundary Mills Retail Outlet in Colne, Lancashire, which opened last month.

It has also supplied two gazebos for the Hong Kong Government, which have been installed in parks on the island. At the Trafford Centre near Manchester, the company has installed brass balustrading in the Barton Square home furnishings area.