A flourishing business which works for commercial property landlords and tenants across Hampshire and West Hampshire is celebrating two records in its 18th year.
Fareham-based commercial solicitors Graeme Quar & Co has seen annual turnover soar by 37% in the financial year on the back of increasing demand and referrals.
The best-ever year coincided with the swiftest lease deal of its kind in the firm’s history – just 24 hours from start to completion for an expanding wholesaler in the South.
Graeme Quar, managing director of the 10-strong firm, said: “We’ve seen a sharp increase in instructions in the fields of leases, tenant agreements and property transactions, which would suggest that local business are perhaps more resilient to economic conditions than other parts of the UK.
“On the back of increasing demand and referrals, we’ve signed off on a fantastic 37% rise in turnover, our best ever, and bodes well for many of our clients as there is positive activity out there amid the official double-dip recession.
“The celebration coincided with our fastest lease deal to date, which is also indicative of a local company doing well.”
That transaction centred on Williams & Co, a trade-only wholesaler of plumbing and heating supplies and with 22 branches from Aldershot to Worthing.
Richard Barnett, an associate solicitor who has been with Graeme Quar & Co for 17 years, was tasked with getting a warehouse lease across the line for Williams & Co, a long-standing client, in a fast-moving situation.
The expanding chain urgently required a 929 sq m (10,000 sq ft) warehouse in readiness to store an impending shipment of products.
Unit 19 at Fareham Industrial Park, Fareham, was available, conveniently located next to Williams & Co’s headquarters and local branch at 7/8 Standard Way.
Liaising with Gary Jeffries of Fareham-based commercial property agency Hughes Ellard, which acted on behalf of the park’s pension fund landlord, Richard had the paperwork signed off within 24 hours.
He said: “It helped that Williams & Co is already on the industrial park and everyone responded to the importance of getting a deal done quickly and efficiently.”
Ray Stafford, the managing director of Williams & Co, which was founded in 1972 as a specialist plumbing and heating merchant trading out of a corner shop in Earnest Road, Portsmouth, spoke of his delight.
He said: “We’re very much on the expansion trail and required a sizeable warehouse to store an impending shipment of bulky products – that we got one in a whirlwind 24 hours, and conveniently next to our head office, reflects well on everyone involved. We are grateful to both Graeme Quar & Co and Hughes Ellard for doing the business for us.”
Lease details for Unit 19 were not disclosed.
Williams & Co also has local branches at OJ’s Industrial Park at Claybank Road, Portsmouth, 3 Clarence Wharf, Mumby Road, Gosport, Belgrave Industrial Estate, Southampton, and St Martin’s Trade Park, Winnall, Winchester.
