Making significant strides both personally and professionally since joining The Sovini Group, we caught up with Alan Evans, Director of Operations at Sovini Trade Supplies to gain an insight into his career journey over the past five years.

“Five years…wow! Where did that go? I remember my first week like it was yesterday at the old Aintree branch. How things have changed!”

Alan started his career working for Asda in the warehouse during university, which is where the “retail bug bit” as he loved the fast-paced nature of the operation.

He continued his career in retail and wholesale, working predominantly in operations until he strived for a new challenge.

“I saw the Regional Operations Manager role advertised at Sovini Trade Supplies and once I researched the role and the wider Group it seemed like an exciting opportunity in a very unique company. How right I was!” Alan said.

Sovini Trade Supplies is a North-West builders’ merchant supplying quality products to the repairs & maintenance, newbuild and general construction sectors. The business was established in 2014 and is part of The Sovini Group, an award-winning property company which has developed a unique end-to-end supply chain, from merchant to registered provider.

Sovini Trade Supplies has overcome many challenges over the past five years, but has also experienced significant growth, with lots of achievements to be celebrated.

“The highlights for me have to be opening our flagship store on Heysham Road, providing an opportunity to continue to grow the business, joining the NBG Buying Group which gave us the commercial edge we needed and allowed us to become competitive in the marketplace, and more recently opening our Speke branch which secured Sovini Trade Supplies’ position as a true merchant.” Alan said.

The business has grown from £8m turnover in 2018 to over £26m this year, but it doesn’t stop there for Sovini Trade Supplies.

“We now employ over 80 people, three times as many as in 2018 with at least a quarter of them securing internal promotions over the last five years. This reflects the Group’s commitment to talent development and will ensure Sovini Trade Supplies is in a great place for the future.”

Alan is particularly proud of how his team reacted and performed through the Covid-19 pandemic and the two years that followed.

“The amount of effort the team put into tackling the issues through this period, is truly remarkable and as a leader there is nothing better than seeing your team perform at such a consistently high level under such challenging circumstances.”

So, what does the future hold for Sovini Trade Supplies?

“I would love to see more Sovini Trade Supplies branches across the Northwest and beyond, more contracts secured and to see the team grow into the hundreds. We also have significant investment in a new ERP system to roll out which will make the teams life easier and shows the benefits the Group brings to its members. Personally, having recently joined The Sovini Group’s Executive Management Team I hope I can play my part in The Group’s continued success.”

“In the immediate future though, there is a tenth birthday party to organise!”