The National Merchant Buying Society (NMBS) has announced its transition from affiliate to full shareholding member of Euro Craft, a European consortium of buying groups in the construction and industrial sectors.
The progression follows a period of due diligence and onboarding.
NMBS CEO Kevin Williams said: “NMBS’ position as a shareholding member of Euro Craft ensures major benefits for the merchants and industry suppliers we work with.
“It gives NMBS even greater purchasing power and the ability to co-operate and share knowledge with other buying groups across Europe. It also enables us to more easily access new supply partners and key European decision makers as well as to negotiate on a pan-European basis.”
Founded in 1995 by France’s SOCODA Group, Euro Craft brings together seven shareholding buying cooperatives across Europe, including NMBS.
In addition to NMBS and SOCODA, current shareholders include Zevij-Necomij (Benelux), 3e (Austria), Nordwest (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Poland, and Austria), NEOPRO (Spain), and Meno Group (Belgium and Luxembourg).
Euro Craft’s members collectively operate in over 30 countries and represent 4,500 independent businesses running around 10,000 outlets.
The consortium’s combined annual purchasing power is reported as €15bn ($16.7bn).
Euro Craft managing director Peer de Lange said: “When NMBS joined Euro Craft in July 2025 as an affiliate member, it was clear that we had found a valuable partner.
“Since then, our relationship has gone from strength to strength, and we are delighted that the business is now a shareholder. This development creates exciting opportunities for NMBS, its members and suppliers, and for the other Euro Craft shareholders.”
Williams added: “We’ve had a great year at Euro Craft and we’re delighted that the onboarding process as a shareholder has now been successfully completed.”
Euro Craft was originally established to foster collaboration between independent distributors.
