FunderMax boosts UK profile

It has just announced that West Midlands-based Palmer Timber has become its second distributor in the UK, stocking a wide range of specialist interior laminates.

FunderMax’s UK business has been growing fast – it is currently doing about £5m sales annually on both interior and exterior and has targeted a £10-11m turnover by 2020. Its UK sales grew by 62% last year, with more than 20% growth so far this year.

The agreement with Palmer Timber sees the latter take on a large range of FunderMax products, including thin HPL, compact boards, MFC and the Max Resistance2 chemical resistant laminate.

Palmer has invested around £150,000 in FunderMax stock and about another £100,000 in the storage facilities and materials handling technology necessary to handle the products.

For FunderMax’s MFC – Star Favorit, this is the first time the product is being supplied in the UK and heralds the company’s intention to ship more wood-based products to this country.

“The wood-based product sector is big and we need to be in it,” said FunderMax’s UK sales director Paul Hughes. He said shipping mixed loads of laminates and MFC was a policy that worked.

“This is a new venture for us, as we’ve never stocked a compact laminate before and so we’re enthused and eager to bring these products to the UK market,” said Palmer Timber’s Paul Bettridge. The all-FSC-certified stock began arriving at Palmer last December and is continuing to do so. Once complete, it will have 30 decors in both compact laminate and thin HPL, with 16 matching decors in moisture-resistant MFC, as well as the Resistance2 product.