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Meet Richard
Executive Director of Interpart UK
There are plenty of reasons behind Interpart’s popularity amongst owners of JCB machinery around the world. It’s not just because they’re a second-generation family business. Or because they’ve been trusted for almost 50 years. It’s because no-one knows genuine alternative parts like they do. And no-one cares more about quality, service and value. Maybe that’s why they’ve managed to build a globally recognised brand, with a distributor network spanning 70 countries.
We chatted to Richard about his journey with HURST, and his experiences running the family business since taking over from his Dad in 2013.
“I always joke that I took over at Interpart so that Dad could spend nine months of the year sunning himself in Cyprus! Maybe there’s a bit of truth in that, but to be honest the family business had always been close to my heart, so it just felt natural when the time came to take over the day-to-day running here.
We’ve been working with HURST for around five years now... although I’d known of them for a little while, it was one of their events that made me properly consider them as a potential partner. The accountancy firm we worked with at the time just wasn’t the right fit - there wasn’t really any chemistry there at all, so we were looking for a better culture fit, as well as a firm that was more aligned with our kind of family business.
The biggest benefit to me personally? I think that must be their openness and accessibility. It’s good to have that extra support when I’m facing a particular challenge.
Richard Watson, Interpart
Things have worked out really well for us. As well as the standard stuff like our audits, they look after our personal tax and advise us on international issues like BREXIT. But it’s the more strategic side of things where they’ve made a real difference... they help us with annual workshops where we’ll talk about the business plan, and set our sights on some goals and aspirations for the years ahead.
Those sessions can be very inspiring, and they definitely offer a different perspective - helping to change our mindset and shifting our focus on the future instead of being too busy with the day-to-day running of the business. The results can be quite surprising too - for example a full re- brand and transformation of our digital presence was born through a workshop with HURST. That’s about as far from accountancy as you could possibly imagine.
The biggest benefit to me personally? I think that must be their openness and accessibility. It’s good to have that extra support when I’m facing a particular challenge. I know everyone will always be happy to give me their time without question, and I know their advice is always in the best interests of our business - not their own.”
Hurst in three words? Approachable. Professional. Informative.
To find out more about Interpart and their industry-leading range of genuine alternative parts for JCB, click here to visit their website, or check out their Facebook page here.