In the Hunt for success
12 August 2021
A belief that demand would bounce back resiliently after the first lockdown has paid dividends for generator hire specialist John F. Hunt Power.
“Looking back to March 2020 when the lockdown was announced, we were just nearing the end of an excellent trading year and had to plan carefully for the next 12 months,” managing director David Hunt tells me.
“We did furlough some staff initially but by the end of July 2020 everybody was back and business was pretty much back to pre-Covid levels.
“Obviously the market that felt the biggest impact was events, which basically didn’t happen last year. But that was offset by increased activity amongst the health care sector, construction and utilities.
“Above all, the performance of our people has been extraordinary. Every one of them has worked in an exemplary manner in very difficult circumstances.”
John F. Hunt Power has five depots nationwide and is currently recruiting. The Bristol location is serving a growing customer base, as is the branch at Livingston in Scotland’s central belt. The company’s Newcastle facility relocated in 2019 to premises four times larger, enabling it to offer more machines.
“And we’re just about to move our depot in Grays, Essex, to a building that is five times larger on the same trading estate, again reflecting the level of business we are winning,” David tells me.
He believes that there are a number of factors fuelling this growth.
“We don’t lose customers. Our retention rate is excellent. People appreciate our service, right from the initial quote and order fulfilment, to on-site servicing and fuel deliveries.
“And our clients are expanding, too. Some that started hiring from us for, say, ten years ago as small concerns are now bigger and busier.
“As a result we’ve been steadfast in our fleet investment. We spent approximately £8 million on new equipment in 2020 and the 2021 figure will be similar. Some of these orders were placed in 2019 and we went ahead with them. We backed our suppliers and we were confident we would need the kit.”
One of John F. Hunt Power's main suppliers is BGG UK which distributes Bruno generators (pictured).
And on another positive note, David is looking forward to the events market gradually coming back.
“We’ve already seen some events returning this year in limited numbers and we believe that 2022 will see the sector returning to normality.”
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