NMBS
Richard Sharp is an accomplished finance professional with extensive experience in various leadership roles. Currently, Richard serves as the Director of Finance and Operations at the National Merchant Buying Society since May 2025. Prior to this, Richard held the position of Finance Director at Saint-Gobain from June 2012 to April 2025, focusing on supply chain management and business relationship management. Richard's career also includes significant roles as Financial Controller at Graham Plumbers Merchant and International Decorative Surfaces, and as Regional Financial Controller at Jewson. With a solid foundation in business studies, holding a Bachelor's degree from Nottingham Business School, Richard has developed expertise in budgeting, forecasting, and cost control throughout a diverse career spanning over two decades.
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NMBS
NMBS (National Merchant Buying Society) is the UK’s largest buying group for independent builder’s, plumbing and heating, timber, and hardware merchants. For more than 50 years, we have been committed to ‘Strengthening Independents’ by encouraging cooperation and collaboration and by championing the needs of the independent merchanting sector. Today, we represent over 1000 merchant members who collectively operate more than 3100 branches nationwide and achieve annual sales of £8BN – equating to 45% of the value of the entire UK merchanting sector. We use our combined buying power of more than £1.5billion to negotiate favourable prices and terms from over 600 brand leading, building industry suppliers whilst simultaneously offering these suppliers an effective route to trading with the independent. We also deliver a range of additional value-adding services such as credit insurance, marketing support and access to a dedicated and secure portal known as the ‘Report Centre’. This enables members and suppliers alike to deal with many day-to-day transactional requirements online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Plus, we stage regular networking, knowledge sharing and trading events which bring together our members and suppliers. These events include the NMBS Golf Day, the NMBS Gala Dinner, the NMBS Dinner Dance, the NMBS All-Industry Conference and the NMBS Exhibition. NMBS. Strengthening Independents.