Headline Sponsor - DCS Europe plc

DCS Europe plc is the UK's largest distributor of health, beauty and household brands operating from a 280,000 sq ft distribution centre and headquarters in Stratford-upon-Avon. Started by Denys Shortt in 1994,  the company has grown rapidly reaching sales of over £100m.  DCS covers a wide area of sales and distribution for Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Unilever, PZ Cussons, Colgate, Sara Lee, L'Oreal and SC Johnson. A new division called DCS High Street Discount focuses on the fastest growing sector within DCS - items that retail at £1.  DCS also offers retailers a "pound shop in a box" concept with Poundzone. DCS can provide Poundzone point of sale, FSDU's, category management and merchandising advice. Denys Shortt has also created the Enliven brand - a range of 55 health and beauty products which all retail at £1 whilst offering great value and healthy margins. To complete the full service offer Denys recently opened a brand new factory investing over £1m in UK manufacturing. The factory, based in Stratford-upon-Avon,  makes shampoo, shower gel, bath care and hand sanitizer. DCS now manufactures many brands and tertiary discount brands and is able to engineer products to retail at £1 whilst offering great value. www.dcshsd.com

Gold Sponsor - Rowan

Rowan International is one of Europe's largest specialist distributors of residual and promotional stocks, distributing thousands of grocery lines to the independent discount retail sector across Europe.

Unlike brokers and traders, Rowan have the infrastructure to manage suppliers products from collection right through to final store positioning; giving the firm complete control over the final sales destination and ensuring that suppliers discounted stock is kept away from regular sales channels.

Rowan has a 25 year trading history, giving them unsurpassed retail market intelligence. They have also accumulated substantial financial resources which mean that they have the means to acquire virtually any quantity of product and manage distribution in a controlled manner.

The company operates from a dedicated 70,000 sq-ft distribution hub in Basildon with dedicated operations in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Sweden, and a growing presence throughout Eastern Europe and Russia.

www.rowaninternational.com