“Fantastic spirit” at face-to-face Sugro event

Sugro Managing Director Neil Turton hailed the “fantastic spirit” of the buying group’s first face-to-face event since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

The trade show and networking day was the first time many members and suppliers have had to see each other since March 2020 when the initial lockdown measures came into force.

Held in Kenilworth, the event marked an important step back towards normality after 18 months of holding digital activities in lieu of physical meetings – and Turton was delighted with the results.

“Sugro is one of the first organisations to run a physical event this year,” he said.

“Members and suppliers were genuinely happy to see each other after so many months of restrictions.

“The atmosphere throughout the event was very positive with a fantastic spirit seen in both members and suppliers which flowed into some substantial business being done on the day.”

Sugro updated members and supply partners on its 2021 trading progress and plans for 2022, as well as hosting more than 800 one-to-one networking meetings across the day.

And with encouraging signs within the buying group’s numbers – which show 47% growth in July 2021 versus the same month in 2019 – there’s hope there will be more good times ahead.

“We received some great feedback from our members and supply partners,” added Head of Trade and Marketing, Yulia Pettit.

“We were delighted to be able to see our members and suppliers in person once again and we were exceptionally pleased with a high level of attendance and participation. We have been eager to resume physical events for some time but we wanted to wait until it was safe to do so.

We look forward to delivering our busy events schedule across 2021 and 2022, which will provide both members and suppliers with some fantastic opportunities to interact, network and continue to drive the business forward by capitalising on key elements of Sugro strategy which is focussed on further digitalisation, diversification and group data service.

“The performance of the group has been exceptionally resilient over the past 18 months and I would like to thank all members and suppliers for their continuous support and participation.”

coronavirus covid-19 event Neil Turton Sugro Yulia Pettit