The online construction materials firm, which rebranded as cmostores.com last month, has continued its rapid growth, reporting a 100% uplift in turnover since the investment by private equity house Key Capital Partners (KCP) in 2017.

Last year, the online building products retailer saw sales grow by 46%, hot on the heels of sales growth of almost 50% for the year before.

Since the company’s MBO in 2017, KCP has worked with the cmostores.com management to strengthen the senior leadership team, including recruiting Dean Murray as non-executive chairman, Andy Dunkley as CEO and Sue Packer as finance director. KCP has also supported investment in the infrastructure required to sustain the business’ current growth, which included relocating to new 32,000sq ft premises in Plymouth and the introduction of new IT systems.

KCP’s in-house research team also sourced a bolt-on opportunity, with the acquisition of DoorWeb, and the private equity house supported the firm throughout the transaction. The deal was successfully completed and the new store, www.doorsuperstore.co.uk, which was launched in October 2018, succeeded in generating sales of over £350,000 by the end of 2018.

CEO Andy Dunkley said: “Cmostores.com is a fast-growing, disruptive player in the construction materials sector and we need to be able to make the right decisions at a quick pace to keep ahead in such a dynamic environment.

“Over the past two years, KCP has been a valuable partner, supporting and challenging us to continue our development and expansion as well as sourcing lots of opportunities for us to consider for both organic and acquisitive growth.

“We have now doubled the size of the business since KCP’s investment while generating substantial cash and EBITDA. As a management team, we are focused on continuing our exceptional performance.”

In May 2017, KCP invested £8.65million in the business, giving it a majority stake, with KCP partners Mike Fell and James Excell joining the board.

Mike Fell commented: “We recognised the huge potential of this digitally-savvy business two years ago and knew that, with our strong track record working with e-commerce businesses, we would be able to give it the support it needed to continue its upward trajectory.”