Exertis MD says Brexit is delaying infrastructure investment

Brexit furore hasn't affected company's growth, boss adds

Distribution has to be the strong and stable element in the channel amid ongoing Brexit confusion, according to Exertis UK MD Paul Bryan.

Speaking during the keynote presentation at Exertis' annual Plug In event - this year held at Silverstone race track - Bryan (pictured) acknowledged that consumer confidence in retail had been knocked due to Brexit, as well as investment wariness from businesses.

However, he claimed that Exertis is outperforming the wider distribution market.

Bryan attributed this to resellers turning more and more to distribution.

"On the business front, we are seeing fertile areas for growth, but we are seeing infrastructure investment and business projects being delayed and slower than normal," he told the audience.

"The reseller community are using distribution more. Yes, distribution is about shifting the boxes but, actually, it's more about what services we can wrap around - whether it's a consumer or business space, as well as how we can we help leverage resellers into whatever area they are selling.

"The more we do that, the more we will become relevant and I would expect that trend to continue."

The broadliner released its financial results earlier this week, where it praised services and acquisitions as vital elements of its growth to £3.6bn in revenue.

Bryan told the audience that parent company DCC has been supportive, despite the challenges presented by Brexit and the current economic climate, alluding to the now-bust Beta Distribution.

"DCC is such a supportive parent and is allowing us to invest at a time that is quite uncertain, and we are actually growing in the UK and globally," he stated.

"Why is this relevant? Because people are consolidating, people are going out of business - a distributor went bust quite recently.

"I think all of us want strong and stable suppliers and customers. We want certainty."

Bryan also emphasised the focus the broadliner is putting on its services division, telling the crowd that this segment would continue to grow.

"Services is really important to us," he said.

"Two years ago we set out to have services as 20 per cent of our income and now we are at about 15 per cent, so we are making good progress.

"Services is one of those things we need to be engaging with - it's building and building. We do so many and we need to have conversations with partners to work out what is relevant."