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Family support behind Phoenix growth

actually the wholesale arm of the Bermuda Drug Company Limited (BDC).Incorporating Bermuda's leading health, food and beauty aid distributors, the BGA Group of Companies service the Island's supermarkets, hotel shops,

actually the wholesale arm of the Bermuda Drug Company Limited (BDC).

Incorporating Bermuda's leading health, food and beauty aid distributors, the BGA Group of Companies service the Island's supermarkets, hotel shops, pharmacies and variety stores and consists of the Bermuda General Agency Limited, Weldon Limited, Magazine Distributors and Purvis Distributors Limited. Five of Bermuda's eleven pharmacies are owned and operated by the BGA Group of Companies through the BDC Limited, while it services the remaining six. One of the five, the Phoenix Centre occupies more than 11,000 square feet in the heart of Hamilton and combines the Phoenix Drug Store, the Bookmart, the Hallmark Shop, the Annex Toys and the Phoenix `Newspaper Express' which specialises in the importation and distribution of all the foreign newspapers to some 35 outlets throughout the Island. According to Mr. Young, it was in 1991 and 1992 respectively, that Weldon Limited and Purvis Distributors Limited were acquired by the BGA Group of Companies. "We were very pleased to have acquired (the two companies) by mutual agreement which made not only our company substantially stronger, but also allowed those shareholders of the former companies to retire knowing that their businesses will continue to be run with the highest standards of excellence and quality service,'' he said.

"These acquisitions, of major proportion in Bermuda, have moved BGA Group of Companies to the very forefront of the grocery, health and beauty aid industry. We now proudly represent many of the finest companies in the business. With the acquisition of the Purvis building, we were able to consolidate our corporate BDC Ltd. head office, giving us a strong, seasoned, co-ordinated, management, sales and marketing infrastructure.'' The Parent Company, BDC Limited, has a company business base which consists of: Bermuda General Agency Limited (BGA) companies which serve as wholesalers to Bermuda's supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, drugstores, hardware stores, souvenir shops, etc.

Purvis Distributors Limited and Weldon Limited, which form part of BGA, and serve as wholesalers to Bermuda's hotels, supermarkets, restaurants and hardware stores.

Magazine Distributors, also part of BGA, which distributes over 1,400 magazine titles to supermarkets, drugstores, hotels and newsstands throughout the Island as well as 80 percent of the paperbacks sold in Bermuda.

Phoenix Newspaper Express -- wholesalers of foreign newspapers island-wide.

Phoenix Stores Limited, comprising a toy store, book store, five retail pharmacies and which represents more than fifty percent of Bermuda's retail pharmacy business.

At present, over 60 percent of wholesale business by the BGA Group of Companies is conducted with Bermuda's grocery and supermarket stores. And therefore, according to BGA president and CEO, Ward Young, of considerable interest to the company.

"Our relationship with the supermarkets is of paramount importance to us,'' he said. "The health and beauty aid product mix (comprising 10,000 Sku's), of Bermuda General Agency is as diverse as razor blades, cosmetics, baby formula and souvenirs.'' Companies represented by the BGA Group include Proctor & Gamble, Bristol Myers Squibb, Kelloggs, Revlon, First Brands, United Biscuit (McVities), Cadbury International, H.J. Heinz Co., American Home Foods, The Clorox Company, Dole, Sara Lee Hosiery, Unilever, Warner Lambert and Sara Lee Personal Products.

"We not only service all major hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, supermarkets and others with bulk deliveries, we also offer the best in `jack robbing' services to those who wish this highly customised service. We also operate a fleet of 20 trucks, We offer no less than the best! unique in the Bermudian food/health and beauty aids industry.'' According to Mr. Young, a state-of-the-art system greatly contributes to the efficient and effective running of his company's business and will provide the platform for BGA's growth into the next century. For example, he said, management of the sales by account by supplier by SKU comparing this year to last year are managed far easier through such tools as daily stock and sales reports. "The BGA Group of Companies wholesaling system parallells that of major wholesalers and brokerage houses in the US, Canada and Europe,'' he added. "We presently service a product base of approximately 16,000 Sku's, using a fully-automated, on-line inventory and order entry system which runs on an AS/400 series mainframe. "The BGA Group has invested heavily in the IT area, both in hardware and software, and has recently completed a major re-development of our wholesale computer system. Among the benefits this system brings BGA is the most accurate costing and pricing module available on the Island as well as a sophisticated on-line inventory system based upon a leading US Warehouse Management System.'' Company sales representatives equipped with hand-held terminals called telxons, are required to visit every account at least once a week and, in some cases, daily, he said. Such persons use a detailed `customer customised' computer list -- detailing past sales history, current prices and specials -- of all the particular products that a customer carries in his establishment. The sales representatives also review every product, whether on the shelf or in the storage room, in every account before placing an order. In addition, they specialise in working with customers to place direct orders with principals supplying such things as cubes, prices and stock movement.

"Our Marketing Director and other marketing representatives support our supermarkets and other stores with flexible marketing and promotional programmes tailored to suit each individual account's needs. Marketing programmes can combine advertising and promotion funds as well as in-store promotion, press and electronic media placement at no extra cost to our customers.'' With a distribution centre just five minutes outside Hamilton and twenty minutes from the Bermuda International Airport, the company boasts the largest, and most modern, warehouse facility on the Island with over 2,000,000 cubic feet of storage space. Segmented into a high density, low density single and case pick zones, the warehouse has the advantage of the most modern material handling equipment available today. The BGA Group of Companies is a member of the National Wholesale Druggists' Association, the National Wholesale Grocers' Association (NWGA), the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and the Bermuda Employers' Council (Founder members). It is listed with Dun and Bradstreet under the parent company, BDC Limited and is a member of various international organisations including the American Booksellers' Association.