Our
History
/ 30+ years of continued growth
Our Journey:
Take a trip back and see how we’ve grown over the past 29 years into who we are today.
1994
/ 1994
DCS Commodities Founded
Denys C. Shortt founded DCS Commodities and began trading in large volumes of branded products such as soft drinks. The company was located in an old WW2 aircraft hangar in Atherstone-on-Stour with portakabins as offices.
1996
/ 1996
DCS Export Founded
As our product range grew we saw an opportunity to ship products abroad. We decided that our overseas customers would be better served with a dedicated team attending trade shows around the world. Also we launched our own toiletries brand Enliven.
1998
/ 1998
DCS Wins Virgin Fast Track 100
DCS was ranked as the 36th fastest growing company in the UK in the Virgin Fast Track 100. Sales grew from £5.2m in 1994 to £35.6m in 1997 and the company employed 24 staff. Our official distribution model was started in Landmark Wholesale. The company changed its name from DCS Commodities to DCS Europe.
2000
/ 2000
Investment in Growth
With rapid sales growth DCS decided to double the size of its warehouse at Atherstone-on-Stour from 40,000 sq ft to 80,000. The following year the company started looking for a larger premises as the company had outgrown this location.
2002
/ 2002
£10 Million Investment into 11 Acre Site
DCS moved to Timothy’s Bridge Road in Stratford-upon-Avon in July 2001. Denys teamed up with his former England Hockey teammate and goalkeeper Steve Taylor who owned Taylors of Martley Logistics. Taylors lorries were co-located at the Stratford site.
2004
/ 2004
Created DCS Added Value Services
During this year DCS created Added Value Services – a range of services to help customers grow their business – category insight and co-packing. The DCS Packaging division (now DCS Co-Pack) was launched to provide product adaptations for specialist routes to market. DCS held a 2 day conference for our sector and invited more than 100 people to the event. Our advisor to the Board Christine Cross (formerly Director at Tesco) presided over the event with guest speakers from Unilever, Colgate and Gillette.
2006
/ 2006
Created DCS Central Distribution
DCS was distributing to wholesalers in the UK with a wide range of products. The Official Distribution model of the business began with 'DCS Central' with our main customers being Makro and the Landmark Wholesale Group.
2008
/ 2008
£2 Million Investment into DCS Manufacturing
After our purchase of health and beauty manufacturer Bubbles & More based in Wolverhampton we decided to create a new 60,000 sq ft factory at our site in Stratford-upon-Avon. We had 10 filling lines and started producing for several retailers and discounters.
2010
/ 2010
DCS Wins Award for Helping the Community
A new award for supporting the community was won by DCS. This was for Denys' work as Chairman of the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Warwick Business School advisory board member and other community projects.
2012
/ 2012
Denys Shortt Awarded OBE by Her Majesty The Queen
This was awarded for Denys’ hard work achieved as Chairman of the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership. Amongst other achievements, Denys created and hosted the National LEP Conference at the Ricoh Arena with Prime Minister David Cameron and members of the Cabinet and 200 guests attending.
2014
/ 2014
DCS Ranks in Sunday Times Top Track 250
For the second year running DCS achieved a place in the Top Track 250 – Britain’s top privately owned companies. DCS sales were now £180 million and the company employed 315 staff. Photo with Richard Lowe – MD of Barclays Corporate. In 2015 Denys Shortt chaired a team which raised over £1.5 million for the new Stratford-upon-Avon Cancer and Eye Hospital.
2016
/ 2016
DCS Group Purchases £20 Million New 26 Acre Site in Banbury
After 5 years of searching DCS found a new 26 acre site in Banbury. A deal was signed with David Richards CBE of Prodrive to purchase the property. This site secured our growth ambitions for many years as it was three times larger than our previous location.
2018
/ 2018
Celebrating 25 Years of Growth
For our 25th Anniversary we celebrated by planting a woodland adjacent to our site containing 30,000 trees. As a family business this was important and started the work towards our Carbon Zero initiative.
Having won a large contract with J&J we created a new Pharmacy division supplying chemists throughout the UK. An investment of £100,000 was made into a temperature controlled area in the warehouse for OTC medicines.
2020
/ 2020
£5 Million Investment into New Redditch Factory
Despite the pandemic DCS achieves its 26th year of consecutive growth. This year saw a £5m investment in DCS Manufacturing with opening of a new 100,000 sq ft site in Redditch. Our sales in 2020 were £267 million and we employed 445 people over two sites.
2022
/ 2022
£5 Million investment into DCS Banbury Distribution centre
In 2022 we completed our new 60,000 sq ft extension which included 2 floors for parcel distribution after winning the Coty contract. There is a new lorry park for 30 trailers.
The warehouse is protected by a sprinkler system and has state-of-the-art racking.