The company 

Huws Gray is the largest independent builders merchants in the UK. It was founded in 1990 in Anglesey, Wales, and today operates from over 100 trading locations across Wales, East Anglia, the North West of England, the Midlands and Yorkshire with over 1500 staff. The business is a one-stop shop for small contractors or independent builders, offering comprehensively stocked branches to ensure that customers can always get what they need on the day it is required.

In October 2018, Huws Gray acquired Ridgeons, an independently owned timber and builders merchants trading from over 40 mixed branches in East Anglia. This transformational acquisition significantly increases Huws Gray’s store base and broadens its national presence, making it the UK’s largest independent builders merchants.

The Inflexion difference

As we are a minority investor in the business, Huws Gray remains majority owned and led by the existing management team headed by John Llewelyn Jones and Terry Owen. The company is benefitting from the consolidation of the builders merchants market and is expanding its geographical reach across the UK. Our extensive M&A experience is supporting Huws Gray’s buy-and-build strategy, as evidenced by the acquision of Ridgeons.

Inflexion has taken the time to understand our business and how we envisage its future. Unusually for a private equity firm, they were willing to take a minority stake, meaning we stay in control as we work together to accelerate our growth. The transformational acquisition of Ridgeons in the south helped us double in size overnight; had we remained independent, we’d not have achieved it. Inflexion gave us the confidence and support to pursue that.

Terry Owen,

Managing Director, Huws Gray