A Brief History
S&U was founded in Birmingham in 1938 by Clifford Coombs, a charismatic figure from South Wales who had bicycled to the Midlands with just £1 in his pocket. Fifteen years later, his success was such that he joined the Board of what is now Great Universal Stores at just 32. He founded S&U five years later.

His secret lay in his ability to charm and motivate people, whether they were customers or employees. Indeed so successful was his selling technique that GUS used to pay him not to take part in sales competitions just to give the other Representatives a chance!

S&U originally sold leisure and household goods - hence its name Sports and Utilities. By 1961, the company had developed over 100 offices throughout England and Wales and gained a public quote on the Stock Exchange. By 1975, changing customer tastes and sophistication saw S&U transform its goods based credit business into a home based finance and HP operation. This remains the bedrock of our business today. In 1998, S&U decided to develop a motor finance business, Advantage Finance, in order to give our customers who might lack access to traditional finance resources the opportunity to own their own cars.

Our Customer Philosophy
The emphasis on a personal relationship between customer and Representative is as central to S&U's philosophy today as it was to Clifford Coombs' success. Whether it is to our home-collected customer or our motor finance customers, ours is the quintessential relationship lending. Many of our 120,000 borrowers have experienced credit or borrowing difficulties in the past or have been rejected by "mainstream" lenders. They therefore need the constant guidance and informal money management that our home collected Representatives and our motor Area Sales Managers can provide on a continuous weekly basis.

Our Aims
Our mission is simply to provide our customers with United Kingdom's best consumer and motor finance service. That means working as a team to be more efficient, respond quickly to our customer's demands, and therefore to maintain the quality of our book debt, and protect our long-term customer relationships. We believe that high quality service will attract customers.

Building For The Future
After a profits increase this year, S&U is building still faster! We don't major on flashy adverts but we're very serious about buying business. We will pay equally serious money for good quality book debt, or even for your entire business.

For a speedy, sure and lucrative response, please contact Anthony Coombs, Chairman, on 0121 705 7777, or e-mail anthonycoombs@suplc.co.uk