Metro Rod talks strategy

Metro Rod has announced that its ambitious ‘Vision 2023’ strategy is already producing fantastic results for its franchisees.

Parent company Franchise Brands has just released its results for 2018 and it seems last year was a good one for the newly acquired drainage franchise.

Now that Metro Rod has been fully integrated into parent company Franchise Brands, executive chairman Stephen Hemsley reflected on what went well for the franchise.

“Franchise Brands has made considerable progress in 2018. The investment we have made in Metro Rod to support our Vision 2023 strategy is beginning to deliver tangible benefits which I expect to become increasingly more visible in the current year and beyond as we continue to unlock the clear potential for the business. 2019 has started encouragingly, with a good trading performance across the group’s businesses in the first two months of the year and we, therefore, look forward to the year ahead with confidence.”

He said that the new strategy focused on developing the identity of franchisees as entrepreneurs and helping them grow their businesses without too much intervention from the head office team. He explained that this would help the company continue its transition from centrally managed to franchised.

The plan is already showing brilliant results, as half of Metro Rod’s network recorded double-digit like-for-like sales growth in 2018, despite it only being implemented in January 2018. System sales also grew around 10.2% on a pro-forma basis. Lots of new systems are being rolled out across the network to try to make things easier for franchisees, including a brand new works management system which will shortly replace the cumbersome previous version that made things more complicated for staff.

The launch of the National Advertising Fund (NAF) in January 2018 was also a great success for the franchise, as it allowed for the creation of a dedicated marketing team who were committed to growing brand awareness and helping each franchisee market their business to the community.

Hemsley hopes that by giving each franchisee more responsibility, as well as localising sales and marketing initiatives, Metro Rod will be able to reduce its Management Service Fee that each franchisee pays as well as increasing efficiency in its head office team. It’s already begun this process, as the average MSF reduced to 18.6 percent in 2018, compared with the contracted rate of 22.5 percent. It’s hoped that in the coming years it will reduce to 15 percent, making the franchise even more competitive in the industry.

Hemsley concluded by saying that Metro Rod will continue to consolidate its services and increase its market share in the fragmented drainage market, which is estimated to be worth around £1 billion.