I was taking a look at the Timico open order book and was staggered to see the diversity of types of company that we have as customers. I couldn’t identify what they all did from the name alone but those I could I wrote down.

Courier, damage management, domestic appliance distributor, baby goods shop, sporting goods manufacturer, printer, skip hire, transport company, optical goods company, nursing agency, drilling services, recruitment agency, dentist, property developer, golf club, martial arts company, travel agent, design company, estate agents, charity, solicitor, farm, training agency, personal friend of mine, petroleum company (big one J ), a domain name registrar, financial services company, tyre fitter, insurance broker, an university, sportswear marketing, graphic design, cooker manufacturer, Church of England diocese, flower seller, gas services, sprayer (?), blacksmith, bathroom vendor, wine reseller, entertainment agency, asylum seeker support company, bus company, computer services, enterprise agency, theatre, flooring, cladding, electrician, soft drink distributor, advertising agency, company from the Isle of Man (incidentally where I grew up), a cooperative society, aircraft company, conflict management, shipping agency.

The striking thing about all these companies is that whilst they operate in a very diverse set of markets they all need the same communications and IT products and services. The great thing from Timico’s perspective is not only that they want to buy services from us but that the diversity offers a degree of protection from any market fluctuations in a given sector.

My favourite was a school for cocktail bartenders. There’s always going to be a need for a good barman.