No Fast Track to profitability for Frazer and Tabberer

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :18/02/2008 15:49:25

Duncan Frazer, Managing Director of Frazer and Tabberer, number 23 on in this year’s Fast Track 100, explains what the future holds for the company

Managing director Duncan Frazer inherited Frazer and Tabberer Ltd. from his father, Robert Frazer, in 1984, running the company part time until 1990 with the business’ co-founder ‘Tab’ Tabberer.

1990 was the turning point for the business. That year, Frazer left the steel pipe stockholding company that he was working for and became sole owner of the business, buying Tab’s shares off him for “the price of a new bathroom.”

Over the next four years, Frazer invested a lot of personal finance into the business with struggle aplenty, even though he believed the ideas the company had were fantastic, “I needed to convince the water companies of this,” he says.

“My lowest point was after I had sold the house, arranging to rent it back from the new owners, and all the household goods had been sold, so I was cooking on the Scouts camping stove in the kitchen, the milk and butter were in a bucket of water by the back door, and I was sleeping in a sleeping bag on the bedroom floor.”

Despite this risky move- now 17 years ago- the company was placed at number 23 in this year’s Fast Track 100, the Sunday Times league of Britain’s fastest growing private companies. A reputable position. Frazer puts this down to “impeccable service”, “first-class products” and a “loyal and hardworking workforce.” Despite this, the company is very small, with 15 employees.

Says Frazer: “The Fast Track 100 gives us credibility with our customers, and we will use this as a marketing tool for the future.”

Organic growth

Between 1994 and 2008 the company has steadily grown - moving on four occasions to larger premises - where its financial growth has escalated, with growth of 118 percent from £1.1 million in 2004 and £11.3 million in 2007.

The launch of the F&T E-joint, one of a growing number of joining systems offered by FT Pipeline Systems, has been specifically prolific helping this sales growth, purportedly saving water companies £100 for every new pipe joint.

FT Pipelines

Frazer and Tabberer may be the No. 1 supplier of steel water pipes in the UK but Frazer doesn’t plan to stop there, “we constantly strive to improve things for our customers and specifiers” he says. This has been the “bedrock” of the company since Frazer and Tabberer started.

Its main market is the UK Water Company market, but the company’s focus has changed over the years to include steel pipelines for transporting brine water alongside locking replacement lids for the gas industry. And this product focus looks set to continue.

Says Duncan: “Our plans for the future are to take our level of service and apply it to different materials.” This includes plans to stock and sell pipelines other than just steel, as well as a storage yard to base such an operation.

“I am extremely enthusiastic about our products and their superb quality…….I was taught that ‘if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well, and in our business that’s absolutely true.”