Westcoast joins Exertis in distie growth fest

Distie adds £200m in organic sales to its UK top line in 2017

Westcoast has posted a surge in annual sales and profits, continuing a run of glowing results filed by homegrown distributors.

According to results filed on Companies House, UK arm Westcoast Limited grew sales by 12 per cent to £1.84bn, with the wider group - Westcoast Holdings - posting a 16 per cent rise in sales to £2.23bn.

The latter includes reseller arm XMA, as well as two recent acquisitions in the form of Adveo's French arm and 3D print arm ArtSystems.

This was more than matched at the bottom line, with operating profits for Westcoast Limited and Holdings swelling by 23 per cent and 22 per cent to hit £18.6m and £24.4m, respectively.

The filing comes in the same week that Anglo-Irish distributor, Exertis, posted a 15 per cent rise in sales to £3.08bn. Its results were bolstered by several acquisitions, including a first full year of contribution from Hammer.

Talking to CRN, Westcoast UK managing director Alex Tatham (pictured) stressed that the entirety of Westcoast's £200m UK sales growth had been organic.

"Our [group] results included an element of acquisition in that there was a full year of Westcoast France in those results. But every part of the business did well organically, which is the key," he said.

Growth came "across the board, from just about every vendor in every category", Tatham added.

Despite the buoyant numbers, Westcoast admitted in its business review that trading conditions remained "challenging", with Brexit-induced exchange rate volatility pressurising margins and pricing.

The distributor continued to align its cost base to ensure competitiveness in its sector, the report added.