It’s about Time. Or is it really more about United Wholesale Scotland? Apologies for kicking this article off with a corny pun, but it was hard to resist when reflecting on this week’s big wholesale news – the acquisition of Time Wholesale Services by UWS.

The deal is fascinating and not just because it is the first major bit of consolidation at the top end of the UK wholesale market in a while, but also because it highlights many of the issues currently at play in the sector.

For several years now, Time, based in Rainham, east London, has felt like a bright young spark in wholesale, sometimes breaking into The Grocer’s Big 30 wholesalers ranking but more generally just bubbling under the list. Led by the equally bright and bubbly Sony Bihal, Time not only boxed clever in terms of trading but also in its adoption of technology.

Time has also been keen to expand but finding a site for a second depot in a densely populated and crowded location such as London and the south east was tricky. This essentially left it ripe for a takeover. That the approach came from as far north as Glasgow is something of a surprise but actually makes a lot of sense, even if changing the name of the London branch to United Wholesale Scotland perhaps doesn’t quite.

 

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UWS is a fascinating business, set up and owned by the famous Sarwar family, which is deeply rooted in Labour Party politics. Its founder Mohammad Sarwar previously served as an MP, while his youngest son Anas is the leader of the Scottish Labour Party.

The business, which has three depots in Scotland’s central belt, is currently being run by another of Sarwar’s sons, Asim, 43. According to its latest available accounts, it had a turnover of £281.8m for the year to 31 December 2023, with pre-tax profits of £4.4m, and sits at 17 on the Big 30. 

But UWS too has its own geographical restraints in terms of growth. Its central belt heartland is already pretty well sown up with itself, its cousin company United Wholesale Grocers and JW Filshill all trading successfully in the area alongside the main national wholesalers. Hence the need to look further afield.

It is clearly a shrewd move to keep Sony Bihal at the helm of the London operations as his customer relationships and local knowledge will be vital in the next steps. But ultimately the move is much more exciting than business as usual. UWS brings with it not just its Day-Today and Usave symbol groups, but also the fast-growing franchise business German Doner Kebab. GDK, which has around 150 UK sites and handfuls more internationally, is owned by Hero Brands, a company in which another Sarwar brother, Athif, has a 75% stake.

The Time deal could well lay the ground for even faster expansion of GDK across the south east of England, and if the deal goes well could also be a blueprint for UWS snapping up other successful single-site wholesalers. Another wholesale powerhouse could well be being built in front of our eyes. 

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