citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message palmer and harvey plc type private employee owned industry wholesale distribution and retail founded 1925 headquarters hove east sussex england area served united kingdom key people christopher etherington chief executive martyn ward managing director sales and commercial paul hagon managing director sales julian streeter managing director operations jon moxon group finance director jim newsome managing director direct van sales number of employees 3 400 subsidiaries mace website palmerharvey.co.uk palmer and harvey plc also known as p & h formerly palmer & harvey mclane plc is a uk based wholesaler that services the multiples convenience forecourt and ctn sectors . headquartered in hove east sussex it is the uk s largest delivered wholesaler and the 6th biggest private company in the uk . citation needed it has an annual turnover of 4.3 billion and an integrated national distribution network across 14 sites in the uk . the company was originally founded in 1925 as a traditional confectionery and tobacco wholesaler . today palmer and harvey is the uk s largest wholesaler working with a diverse range of 63 600 retailers . palmer and harvey which employs 3 400 people is privately owned by current and former employees . contents 1 business divisions 1.1 palmer and harvey wholesale and distribution 1.2 palmer and harvey retail services 1.3 palmer and harvey direct ltd 2 company history 3 company timeline 4 references 5 external links business divisions edit palmer and harvey has four distinctive business platforms distribution multiple retail independent retail and wholesale . each is designed to service the specific needs of a broad and varied client base supplying customers with anything from freshly made sandwiches to shoelaces . 1 palmer and harvey wholesale and distribution edit palmer and harvey wholesale and distribution is the uk s largest wholesale distributor supplying ambient grocery chilled and frozen foods health and home products to a diverse range of retail outlets including supermarkets multiple forecourts and convenience store operators . palmer and harvey s customer base includes esso royal dutch shell total welcome break martin mccoll mmrg moto and blockbuster ; the key grocery multiples tesco sainsbury s and makro through the palmak purchasing joint venture ; and also handles distribution on behalf of blue chip manufacturers such as nestle mcvitie s and gsk . palmer and harvey retail services edit palmer and harvey retail services is a portfolio of the four established symbol group packages mace mace express your store and supershop ; the plus extra drop shipment scheme providing direct to store access for a range of more than 60 000 product lines ; and dedicated retail support through an alliance with pcms providing it solutions and epos systems to retailers . palmer and harvey direct ltd edit palmer and harvey direct ltd offers more than 50 000 smaller retailers an opportunity to buy from a range of products through the direct to door van delivery services p & h snacksdirect p & h sweetdirect and p & h direct . company history edit palmer and harvey underwent management buy outs in 2002 and 2008 the latter led by chief executive chris etherington in a deal which valued the business at 330m . the equity of palmer and harvey is held by current and former employees a fundamental cornerstone that underpins the company s culture and structure and has been instrumental in growing turnover to more than 4.23 billion in 2009 . company timeline edit 2012 palmer and harvey acquires the walkers van sales operation 2 2011 palmer and harvey release fuel deserts a research paper that looks into the state of the uk s forecourt industry 3 2010 p & h announces record sales of 4.2 bn with a profit of 227 000 . 4 ceo chris etherington commented on the firms 2010 performance the market has been much more competitive ... people have been giving their margins away . 2009 p & h launches sweetdirect a direct to store van sales operation selling products from perfetti van melle tangerine confectionery weetabix until july 2012 kelloggs cereal bars from july 2012 reckitt benkiser medicines lindt bon bon buddies and the top 25 chocolate lines in the uk . 2008 p & h reaches 4bn in turnover ; a third management buyout is completed led by current chief executive chris etherington . the deal valuing the business at 330m offers 50 % of shares to management and employees 2008 p & h acquires leeds based delivered wholesaler wh & hm young a member of the key lekkerland group with sales of 112m and launches its new partnership plus initiative to provide a tailored business growth package to independent and symbol group retailers 2007 p & h acquires west country delivered wholesaler t & a symonds a member of the key lekkerland group 2006 p & h wins the supply contract for the ctn chain northcliffe retail supplying 66 company owned stores and 250 retail partner stores worth 75m a year ; chris etherington is appointed as chief executive joining p & h from motor parts wholesaler unipart automotive 2005 p & h acquires franchise for the mace symbol group in scotland from somerfield previously operated by aberness foods 2002 p & h unveils its new look to mace stores under the 21st century mace design and undergoes a second management buyout 2001 p & h acquires a 200 000 sq ft 19 000 m2 depot in crawley begins supplying to sainsbury s petrol filling stations and secures a long term distribution with shell uk ltd to supply core and noncore food ranges 2000 p & h purchases yp electronics a specialist retail solutions business acquires snacksdirect from kp mcvities and successfully acquires supplier status to 85 esso forecourts 1999 p & h sells theselect and save brand name to larnheath ltd and acquires booker wholesale foods from booker plc. the symbol groups mace and select and save are included in this sale giving p & h control of the symbol group in england and wales 1999 p & h sign a long term distribution contract with tm retail group and snowking foods is merged with the ambient arm of p & h business supported by a 190 000 sq ft 18 000 m2 multi temperature depot in coventry 1998 p & h launches your store to complement the supershop symbol group . the supershop fascia is also reinvigorated leading to a rise in symbol group members 1998 pro retail p & h s annual trade show is launched and p & h acquires winerite a bws wholesaler in yorkshire running 650 bws product lines 1995 mojo cash & carry and frozen food distributor snowking foods are acquired by p & h. warehouse and fleet size are both increased 1994 p & h acquires mclane the uk offshoot of the mammoth us business 1988 sir don gosling quits after his divorce but returns after a management buyout 1959 sir don gosling becomes a director after he marries shauna ingram a member of the family which owns palmer & harvey 1925 palmer and harvey is founded by archie stone who buys two wholesale businesses from a mr palmer and a mr harvey in north london and merges them into one . references edit http www.thegrocer.co.uk articles.aspx page articles & id 212226 http www.thegrocer.co.uk companies wholesalers palmer and harvey ph snaps up pepsis wholesale operation 228394 . article http www.telegraph.co.uk motoring news 8814384 misery for motorists as number of petrol stations halves.html http www.thegrocer.co.uk articles.aspx page articles & id 215843 external links edit group website mace retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title palmer and harvey & oldid 682415920 categories companies based in east sussexcompanies established in 1925wholesalers of the united kingdomprivate equity portfolio companieshidden categories articles needing additional references from march 2013all articles needing additional referencespages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 23 september 2015 at 15 54 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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