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Oxford Products has been celebrating its “best-ever” start to a year, having posted record numbers for the first six months of 2024.
The company’s managing director Henry Rivers Fletcher explains how the company’s successes in 2024 are more than just sales-related.
“The story of 2024 is one of stability,” he says.
“Gone are the violent ups and downs of recent years. Our sales this year have been much more consistent, our stock management much more accurate, our business practises more disciplined – all enabling us to run the business much more efficiently.”
To solidify its successes, Oxford is undertaking a programme of upgrades and investments this year.
These upgrades will see an expanded canteen at HQ, a new dedicated helmet showroom, plus refurbished showrooms for Oxford’s ever-expanding range of motorcycle accessories and clothing.
There will also be an upgraded and refurbished Creative Content Centre, generating all the marketing assets which support the growth of the business, and improved staff benefits, including subsidised private healthcare, more flexible holidays and increased professional development.
To support the business’ five-year growth plan, new talent will be added in almost every area of the business.
Having celebrated early with a summer party in June, the team got together again in July to welcome home chairman, Oxford’s founder Alec Hammond from his latest travels.
Hammond started the company in 1973, selling fibreglass top boxes from the back of a transit van.
The company now sells many thousands of product lines and boasts a turnover of nearly £50m.
Addressing the Oxford staff at the July event, Hammond said: “Like most businesses in the UK, if not the world, we have experienced some challenging, unpredictable, stormy times since March 2020.
“But for those of us old enough to remember, there have always been challenges for the business. Recessions, political upheavals, energy crises, financial crashes.
“We’ve seen them all, but always had the right people with the right ideas, the tenacity, the creativity and the sheer willpower to turn adversity into opportunity and opportunity into success. And that is what makes us what we are, our people. So, expect to see continued investment this year and the coming years in you, our people.”
