Plumbing Africa Plumblink's first hundred stores | Page 3

CORPORATE PROFILE
Plumblink’s first
hundred stores
By Eamonn Ryan
With over 100 years and over 100 stores, and today opening them at the
rate of 10 to 12 a year, Plumblink is on an accelerated growth path.
It was also an event which could have been
catastrophic, but which McFarlane describes
as “the best thing that ever happened to the
company” as it facilitated a complete change
in culture and subsequent modernisation of
the organisation – which was necessary. This
year, the group reports results which show
it has doubled its turnover in the space of
just five years – five exceptionally difficult
years for the South African economy that
have seen any number of construction and
engineering companies failing or going into
business rescue. The group had 19 stores
at the onset of McFarlane’s term; today the
figure is over 100.
endured through two world wars,
apartheid, the cold war and South Africa’s
first one-man, one-vote election, to
ultimately emerge as a leading engineering
supplies specialist.
That tortured history wasn’t foreseen in
the early, simpler days of the country when
deliveries were made by bicycle among horse-
drawn traffic on sweltering, dusty roads in the
bustling mining camp city of Johannesburg.
That dedication to personal service remains
the cornerstone of the company’s success
through to the modern day.
108 years and still growing H Incledon’s story begins in England
that year of 1906 when Herbert Incledon
identified the potential to supply pipes,
fittings and valves to the growing mining
industry of the Witwatersrand. He
convinced his three older brothers to
invest in the venture, and shipped as many
consignments as possible of pipe and
fittings to Johannesburg. Herbert started
trading as H Incledon & Co, and within the
first year showed a small profit with support
from the mining industry for its quality of
workmanship. To meet this demand for steel
pipes, the company acquired Lamberts of
Walsall, UK, which became its export arm
for steel pipes and fittings to South Africa.
The origins of Plumblink can be traced
back to 1906 when the family business
H Incledon & Co was founded. It has Another early root for Plumblink was a
company known as Waud and Blackman
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W
ith its colourful history, the
Plumblink of today bears little
resemblance to its genesis of
108 years ago – but then again, nor does
South Africa. The current CEO, Peter
‘Seaweed’ McFarlane, joined at one of
those critical moment in its history which
was to change the nature of the company
forever – its acquisition by private equity
firm Ethos in 2006. It was an event which
prompted the walkout some months later
of almost the entire executive and senior
management layer.
The current CEO, ‘Seaweed’ McFarlane.
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