Blog: RALPH MORTON
Private equity and long term. Hmmm. Oxymoronic, don’t you think?
Peter Lambert is into his second year as the fleet sales director of Kwik-Fit Fleet, the fast fit tyre outfit that is now expanding into van servicing.
And Peter would care to disagree.
Kwik-Fit Fleet is best known for its founder Tom Farmer, who with Ron Bambra set up the company in St Albans 25 years ago. But in the last 12 years the company has had no fewer than five owners. Hardly a stable set of affairs.
Current investors are the Itochu Corporation, a Tokyo based trading organization that last year made £2.3billion profit – after tax.
But, says Peter, this is not a private equity backer that wants to strip out the costs and sell the company in five years’ time.
“Itochu are in it for the long term. Rather than strip out costs, they are investing in the business,” says Peter. “They want to bring quality to the business – it’s why we see us as being the John Lewis of the fast fit and servicing sector.”
That’s some ambition – when was the last time you visited a fast-fit outfit, and what was your impression? Quite.
But Kwik-Fit is quietly – and tenaciously – ambitious, as Kenji Murai, chief exec of the Kwik-Fit Group, explains in our news story Kwik-Fit set to become the John Lewis of fast fits.
Kwik-Fit and Kwik-Fit Fleet are two parts of the same operation, with Kwik-Fit looking after businesses with fewer than 20 vehicles, Kwik-Fit Fleet looking after 20+ vehicle operations.
“We are gearing our service to all sectors, including the SME sector,” says Peter.”So if a customer has even one van we want to business with them.
“I know we have a reputation for being good with cars, while ATS is better with vans, we want to change that. It’s one of the reasons we’ve launched our new light commercial vehicle proposition,” explains Peter about the company’s latest business van news.
“We’re serious about our service proposition. Opening hours will be extended to 7pm, we’re open seven days a week, and we have the convenience our mobile operation, where we can visit you at your home or office.
“The improvements in service will drive the success of our operation, and the value for money we can offer – better than most dealers – and the transparency of our operation, will change the nature of our business.
“Our investors are Japanese and they have a very different attitude to most private equity companies. There’s no question they are in it for the long term.”
If you take a look at Itochu’s corporate brochure, you begin to understand how different. Here’s an investment company that is committed to the ‘global good’ in its mission statement, respecting “the individual, society, and the future…”
Clearly, doing investment differently is core to the company. Will it be the John Lewis of fast fits? We’ll have to wait and see.
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