Name: Andrew Nicholls Position: Chief Executive   Profile: Andrew Nicholls declined his parents wish to become articled in an accountancy practice and joined the family business. Andrew’s natural aptitude for negotiating and ‘doing deals’ provided a good start within the merchanting industry.

Andrew cites his father as the major influence in moulding his career and attitude towards work - “My father taught me job dedication and attention to detail and made my progress in the business very ‘challenging’”.

Even so, in 1972 Andrew approached his brother Philip to help expand the family business by launching a Plumbing & Heating branch in Cherwell Street, Banbury. Such was Andrew’s determination and drive to succeed the new branch was treated as a separate business entity to the Builders Merchant run by his father and within four years had outgrown the Cherwell Street premises.

In 1976 it was decided to consolidate both family businesses and so a purpose built warehouse was commissioned to house the ever-expanding Plumbing & Heating business next to the Builders Merchant at the Overthorpe Road site.

Over the following twenty years Andrew and Philip built the business steadily through investment and expansion of the Overthorpe Road site to a 2.5-acre multi-disciplined merchanting business.

In November 1998 further expansion of the business came in the form of a new plumbing & heating branch at Bicester, followed by another new branch at Rubgy in January 2002 and a further new plumbing & heating branch and trade showroom at Witney in April 2002.

In August 2002, the Banbury plumbing and heating branch moved to a dedicated site at Banbury Trading Park at Dorcas Road. The most recent and ambitious growth has been the introduction of two new sites at Stratford-upon-Avon, which include a plumbing and heating branch, a building, timber and landscaping branch and an extensive luxury bathroom showroom, all located just off the Birmingham Road on the Avenue Industrial Estate and Swan Trade Park.