12 BULKDISTRIBUTOR
Russel Argo
Richard Ward
Russel Argo, President, Brenntag UK &
Ireland, and Richard Ward, Commercial
Director (Industrial Chemicals and
Water Treatment) Brenntag UK &
Ireland, reveal the company’s plans
and forecasts across the chemical
distribution sector and discuss the
current market with Bulk Distributor...
BD: The European region is providing good
results for Brenntag. What are the standout successes in the new products and
services underpinning this performance?
Russel Argo: In recent years, Brenntag has
invested in restructuring and optimising its
business in Europe, and these investments
now bear fruits leading to very encouraging
growth in the existing business. Brenntag
EMEA today presents as a unified business
platform offering a high level of service
excellence, dedicated industry know-how
and consistent performance levels across
the entire region.
Brenntag is offering its customers a
full-line portfolio of over 10.000 products
of specialty and industrial chemicals as well
as value added services which gives us a
high competitive advantage in Europe. In
the EMEA region our footprint in industrial
chemicals has been exceptional: Brenntag
realises its full potential by focusing on
expanding its successful specialty chemicals
business, which is already among the
market leaders; our strategy for specialty
chemicals is geared to industry focus and
superior customer service; here we have
upgraded our sales force and network with
technical excellence and we are investing in
application labs and blending facilities to
create added value.
There have been a number of exciting
new developments over the last few
months, across all the key industries and
applications we operate in. For instance,
we are the leading distributor of solvents
(in bulk and packaged), offering technical
services in performance fluids as well as
distribution solvents. Our focus since the
acquisition of Multisol in 2006 has been
mainly on organic growth and our solvents
business continued to go from strength to
strength due to the well invested facilities,
technical expertise to provide unique
solutions, and our supplier base.
We have taken on 17 new speciality
chemical distribution agreements, all
Cover Story
September/October 2016
Exploring the chemical distribution se
dedicated to specific portfolios in specific
markets. We also supply bespoke solutions
– either products that are designed for
specific applications and replace more
traditional solvents, or we blend solvents
to meet certain performance criteria.
There are four Brenntag solvent hub sites
in the UK with over 14 million litres of
storage capacity, drumming and IBC
facilities and dedicated blend tank and
small pack facilities. We have invested over
£1 million on our main hub in Scunthorpe
in the last 12 months, increasing our IBC
filling capacity and new life science filling
facility to supply more packed solvents
into the food, feed and pharma sectors.
Richard Ward: Over many years the UK &
Ireland business has invested significantly
in plant and logistics infrastructure. We
have integrated own fleet and third party
logistics partnerships. As an organisation
we continue to operate an integrated
model, which sees 100 Brenntag-owned
trucks operating around the UK & Ireland.
These support our bulk liquid chemicals
business, both directly to customers and in
terms of servicing our own distribution
sites, general packed goods distribution,
and 24 hour internal trunking. Built-in
flexibility allows us to address customers
increasing need for short-term ordering
and reduced shipment size. In addition,
we have strategic alliances with third party
logistics providers who share our core
aspirations around safety and service.
We are introducing a fully integrated
electronic delivery management system,
which both ties in with our SHE
requirements and ensures timely and
accurate delivery confirmation.
We also like the ‘4 eye’ principle,
whereby both our driver and the
customer’s representative have verified the
product and storage tank are correct for
the requested delivery. The electronic
system we are implementing takes the
driver through each of these stages on a
tablet/smartphone and if there are any
doubts about the safety of the delivery
then it doesn’t go ahead.
Once the checks have taken place, the
delivery will be made and on completion
the customer and driver will ‘sign’ the
tablet/smartphone. This then acts as
confirmation that the delivery has been
made safely and in accordance with the
customer’s requirements.”
BD: Looking ahead, has Brenntag
identified any “hot spot” areas or sectors
that it is preparing for in terms of
investment and focus?
RA: As the market leader, Brenntag aims
to contribute to more sustainability in the
BD: In terms of acquisition strategy,
how would you describe Brenntag’s
M&A pipeline?
RA: Alongside organic growth, mergers
and acquisitions are another pillar of
Brenntag’s strategy. The global distribution
market remains highly fragmented,
facilitating significant further consolidation
potential, and Brenntag intends to play an
active role as market consolidator in
selected regions and segments.
2015 was an exceptional year for
Brenntag in terms of realised acquisitions
amounting to an investment volume of
€550 million globally. Brenntag expects to
revert to its traditional €250-300 million
acquisition spend in 2016.
While Brenntag already has a truly global
footprint, we are constantly working on a
number of potential targets, always striving
for the improvement of our portfolio.
Acquisitions, alongside organic growth,
are one of the pillars of our strategy. At
Brenntag, acquisitions have three main
objectives: building up scale and
efficiencies, expanding geographic
coverage and improving the full-line
product portfolio. Bolt-on acquisitions to
complement our product portfolio are an
important part of our strategy. We have
a long and successful track record of
acquisitions, as you see throughout the
history of our organisation in the UK
and Ireland and globally. We therefore
continue to seek acquisition opportunities
that support our overall growth strategy.
BD: What other strategic initiatives are in
the pipeline?
RW: I would mention the development
of paperless delivery methods through
signatures on glass and confirmed
pre-delivery checks and inspections.
supply chain of the chemical industry;
since July 2015, Brenntag has been a
member of the chemical industry ’s
Together for Sustainability initiative (TfS)
– as the first and, so far, only chemical
distributor. The initiative’s goal is to
establish a uniform global programme
for the responsible procurement of
goods and services in the chemical
industry, to achieve transparency in
relation to sustainability performance
throughout the supply chain and to make
further improvements to its suppliers’
ecological and social standards.
Environmental industry (comprising water
treatment, leisure including chemicals for
swimming pools, and AdBlue) remains one
of the key areas for growth, where
addressing regulatory challenges is a must,
and is undoubtedly an area of strength for
our company. We have invested in further
development of our significant AdBlue
business: our brand offers solutions to large
truck fleets and consumers alike, supplied
to several OEM engine and vehicles
manufacturers, both dealerships and
factory fill. We are delighted to be
partnering with Yara (one of Europe’s
leading suppliers of AdBlue), giving
financial and professional security to our
customers. Our differentiators are the
expertise of our teams, high quality
product, bespoke equipment (for innovative
ways of dispensing and significant cost
savings), and strength of supply for the
continuous and reliable source of high
quality urea that meets ISO standards. We
supply only factory-manufactured product
with full traceability and rigorous quality
and testing regime, thus offering some of
the highest standards of Health and Safety
in the industry.
Ingredients manufacturers recognise the
need for new product development to
remain at the leading edge of the market,
and look at their distributors to stem the
flow of innovative ideas to address trends
pertinent to their markets. Our market
intelligence shows that sustainability as
a market driver will only accelerate, as
industry regulations will stipulate the
introduction of more sustainable
alternatives. For instance, the introduction
of the EU Biocides Regulation in 2013 led
to the development of Clorious2 – an
innovative chlorine dioxide solution that
allows manufacturers to overcome the
limitations associated with conventional
chlorine dioxide generation techniques
– the safest, most effective chlorine
dioxide delivery system. Brenntag
Clorious2 is ready to use, requires no
on-site mixing or activation period, and is
characterised by its long-term stability for
safer usage and storage.
RW: We have a number of developments
in our product range to offer to the
renewable energy sector. The market has
seen and continues to see a shift in the
profile of its power generation technology
away from traditional fossil fuels to
renewable sources and this change
requires a different approach from the
chemical sector. The renewable energy
sector uses different chemicals in the
power generation process when compared
to fossil fuels and we have developed our
product range accordingly.
We have a team of energy specialists
already highly active in the sector and
this knowledge has enabled us to tailor
our offering to meet the changing needs
of the market so now, alongside the
commodity chemicals, we have a range
of products developed specifically for
the sector. We see the demand from
renewables increasing over the coming
years and we should be in a good position
to support this growth.
BD: Is there any volatility forecast in any
of the current areas of operation?
RA: There is growing demand for higher
levels of service and efficiency. Our
infrastructure is unrivalled in the industry,
as we operate from 22 distribution
and manufacturing sites, with nearly
900 employees and a fleet of over 100
owned vehicles.
In recent years, Brenntag has made
a conscious choice to move from a
heritage in industrial chemicals and focus
more on specialities and value added
services. Brenntag UK & Ireland has
invested heavily to expand its speciality