Brexit Has Cost Rowan International £450,000 — And It Still Grew

Brexit has added around £450,000 in costs to Rowan International's business without providing any additional value, yet the Essex-based excess-stock wholesaler still expects to double in size. Managing director Sarah Guest laid out the numbers during an interview at the company's Basildon operation, and they describe a business that has turned other people's inventory problems into a fast-turning, cross-border trading engine.

What does Rowan actually sell?

The short answer: surplus FMCG stock that manufacturers need to move. The mix is roughly 50/50 food and non-food, and it changes constantly. Rowan buys new stock every week and turns its inventory every 30-40 days — meaning today's warehouse can look dramatically different within a fortnight. The range spans essential FMCG categories plus occasional outliers like mattresses, garden furniture and kitchenware.

The supply of excess stock is structural, not accidental. Supermarkets demand long residual shelf life — a product might need to arrive with nine months of life remaining — and once it falls outside that window, the manufacturer needs another home for it. Rowan works with customers who can take product with only a few weeks left, or even past its best-before date, because ambient goods stored properly remain safe. Pack-size changes add more supply: laundry brands keep resizing packs to hit different price points during the cost-of-living squeeze, leaving perfectly good stock that no longer fits retailer requirements.

"I realised that excess stock was often associated with dusty, old products that nobody wanted," Guest said. "But what I saw was high-quality, big brands that were still perfectly fit for purpose, in excellent condition, just in need of a new home."

How does the model work commercially?

Rowan operates a non-recurring revenue model — it rarely buys the same product twice. That demands an agile sales team that learns products and brands fast, and it gives customers continuous variety at discount price points. This year Rowan has sold into 29 different countries across more than 300 customers, primarily discount retailers and wholesalers serving convenience stores. It deliberately avoids the major supermarkets, Aldi and Lidl, and targets regional rather than national buyers so manufacturers can reach new audiences without disrupting their core distribution channels. Protecting brand equity is part of the pitch: Rowan works with manufacturers to keep product out of places that could breach existing agreements.

Logistics efficiency is a measurable selling point. Rowan's vehicle fill rate runs at 98.8%, against the UK Department for Transport's average HGV fill rate of 65% — fewer trucks, fewer miles, and roughly one-third lower transport emissions per pallet.

Why is the Netherlands operation so important?

Since Brexit, Rowan's European hub — a third-party operation in the Netherlands near the Dutch-German border — has become central. In 2025, Europe represented 60% of Rowan's sales and around 50% of its purchases. The location serves Germany, Holland and France effectively, and gives manufacturers an outlet to test new territories before committing to global expansion investment.

The company planned the hub as soon as Brexit was announced, anticipating that cross-border movement would become harder but remain critical to growth. A UK team now manages customs clearance and handles duties, taxes and paperwork on behalf of customers and some suppliers. Guest was blunt about the price: the red tape has added around £450,000 in costs — roughly £450,000 that could have gone into people and expansion rather than regulatory compliance for trading the way Rowan always has.

Compliance across markets is managed in-house: a QA team and a newly appointed technical and compliance manager handle country-specific rules, and Rowan can relabel products for local legislation — either applying labels itself or shipping them with the stock. All duties, transport and other costs are bundled into one clear sale price, and suppliers get full traceability of where their products end up.

What external pressures are hitting the business?

Commodity volatility, especially in cocoa, has directly hit chocolate products. When raw ingredient costs rise, manufacturers pass them through the supply chain, demand shifts in core channels, and waves of short-shelf-life excess stock follow. Geopolitical shocks compound this: wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have pushed up fuel prices, while tariff uncertainty and Strait of Hormuz disruption have left manufacturers holding stock that needs an alternative route to market — which is exactly Rowan's business.

On technology, Guest is pragmatic. Rowan is exploring AI to strip out administrative tasks, but the point is freeing people for market visits: "You can't always understand what's happening in a market from behind a desk."

Her growth thesis rests on permanent forecasting error — human desire stays unpredictable, so excess stock will keep existing. She wants earlier conversations in the product life cycle, wider solutions and better commercials for manufacturers. There is nothing stopping Rowan doubling in size, she said, provided it grows sustainably and keeps products in the supply chain feeding and cleaning households at affordable prices.