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The boss of one of Leicestershire鈥檚 best known companies says he would love to hit annual sales of 拢500 million in the next five years as he takes on the likes of AO and Currys.

Mark Smithson started Marks Electrical back in 1987, buying and selling second-hand cookers out of his dad鈥檚 Leicester garage.

A few years ago it moved from a well-known shop in King Richards Road, in the city, to a 200,000 sq ft warehouse near the Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre, on Leicester鈥檚 outskirts.

And a few months ago Marks raised 拢30 million through a listing on the AIM stock exchange, which valued the business at 拢115 million.

Mr Smithson, who still owns 70 per cent of Marks, said there was no reason why sales couldn鈥檛 keep growing thanks to his straight-forward business model.

By comparison, back in January Currys said its sales dropped over the key Christmas period as supply issues it short of stock for some popular tech products.

Mr Smithson said Marks, which has 182 staff right now and could soon have 鈥渟everal hundred more鈥�, was succeeding where other retailers were struggling because much of its stock was sourced from the EU rather than the Far East, so it hadn鈥檛 been hit so hard by recent global trends.

The 56-year-old said: 鈥淲e cover 99 per cent of England 鈥� we go to where the people are and that鈥檚 one of the secrets of the business.

鈥淲e can run all of that out of Leicester, and that鈥檚 another major benefit because we can have just one big warehouse in the middle of England and get to the vast majority of the population.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 need to go to Scotland, for instance 鈥� that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e profitable 鈥� and we don鈥檛 have satellite warehouses either.

鈥淲e have a 200,000 sq ft dedicated site and 拢15 million of stock at Beaumont Leys.

鈥淲e will do 拢80 million up to the end of March this year and the target is to do much more than that next year.鈥�

Mr Smithson said supply chains were a problem for any 海角视频 retailer, but supplying from Europe rather than the Far East had cut down on his shipment costs.

He said: 鈥淏uying from China is fraught with danger 鈥� there鈥檚 the $20,000 cost of getting a container from China to here, so the price of the cheaper products are as expensive as a Hotpoint to buy now.

鈥淭he benefits in savings of dealing with the Far East have dropped off. Most of our stock comes overland from mainland Europe 鈥� from Germany, Poland, Spain, France 鈥� so we鈥檝e not got problems with ports.

鈥淎ll our competition has 20-25 satellite warehouses and will maybe take an order up in the Manchester area and deliver it overnight to one of them. Our business model is to have one huge warehouse and take the order from there and deliver free the next day, seven days a week, using our own transport.

鈥淲e also like to sell more premium brands, we don鈥檛 chase the bottom end. Our vans go out with a lot higher order value on them than the likes of Currys.

鈥淎s fuel鈥檚 gone up and wages have gone up and shipping鈥檚 gone up the actual price to the consumer has gone up, but not dramatically, probably by 5 per cent.

鈥淵ou might have found it鈥檚 gone up 10 per cent and we鈥檝e only put it up 5 per cent 鈥� the bigger we get the more scale we鈥檝e got in the business to control our overheads.

鈥淥ur overheads are very low. We鈥檙e a nimble business and can move quickly and don鈥檛 have to pass on such huge costs as some of the other bigger players."

The 海角视频 white goods market, he said was worth 拢5.3 billion, with another 鈥溌�2-拢3 billion鈥� coming from TV sales, so any significant share was worth fighting for.

He said taking on the big online retailers could see him selling even more of his stake in Marks to bring in extra cash. But he would retain the majority stake, he said.

鈥淥ver the next five years we鈥檇 like to get to half a billion pounds in sales and take a 10 per cent share of the major domestic appliance market. AO did it from scratch up to 拢1.6 billion.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all built into our costs. We make money already and we鈥檙e growing and it鈥檚 all about building that brand awareness.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a very, very good website and we make a profit.

鈥淚 think we鈥檇 create several hundred jobs doing that. We鈥檝e already been in talks with local developers about new sites.

鈥淲e鈥檒l always use that one warehouse model from where we can deliver to 99 per cent of the population in England, which is a huge number of people. The market鈥檚 more than big enough for us to go after.

鈥淲e reckon we could grow to 拢200 million in this current warehouse, so having 600,000 sq ft would be equivalent to having a turnover of 拢600 million.

鈥淲e鈥檒l stay very close to Leicester because that鈥檚 where our employees are all from.鈥�

Mr Smithson said listing had been an easy decision because he had always wanted to 鈥減rofessionalise鈥� the business and knew how injecting cash into it 鈥� from moves such as selling property on Leicester鈥檚 King Richard鈥檚 Road 鈥� could drive sales.

He said: 鈥淚 just thought that with a bit more cash in the business we can take on the likes of Currys and AO and John Lewis, and provide a different offering to what they do.

鈥淲e鈥檙e focussed. We鈥檙e not selling lawn mowers and garden furniture and mobile phones, so it鈥檚 easier for us to control the market that we are in by forecasting better and buying the right amounts of stock.

鈥淲e have to be in-line with the market though and if anyone makes a move we have to make sure our customers get the best deal possible.

鈥淚 love doing this. It鈥檚 fantastic. My sons work in it now as well 鈥� Jack is 29 and Oliver is 25 鈥� so it鈥檚 got a real family feel to it. It鈥檚 great, and it just makes you work even harder in all honesty.

鈥淭hey love doing what they鈥檙e doing at the moment, but whether they actually want to take over and run it is another thing.

鈥淏ut I鈥檝e got no plans to go anywhere.鈥�