In his Sunday Times column Timpson, the chief executive of multi-services business Timpson Group, mused about a 1950s business book that was given to him by his father. 

The book, Parkinson’s Law, was written by former civil servant Cyril Northcote Parkinson, who expounded a number of theories, including that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion” and that companies or departments expand because people have a tendency to make more work for each other.

Timpson cited Webmart founder Biltcliffe’s Marxist-capitalist business ethos, and the fact that he had vowed not to employ more than 50 people no matter how big turnover became.

He said Webmart was successful “because of its culture and the way it recruits, based simply on raw talent and personality”.

“Simon’s job as leader is to pick the best people, ensure the total headcount never goes over 50, and to remove any mundane, dull or repetitive jobs so they can either be ignored or technology found to do them instead.

“It’s not surprising the business does so well,” he wrote. 

In Webmart’s recently-filed accounts for the year to 31 March 2021, covering an entire year of pandemic effects, the business posted sales down 27.7% to £13.9m, with a gross profit of nearly £1.3m and pre-tax profit of £349,598. 

In his commentary, Biltcliffe said that being profitable during a pandemic was “testament to the exceptional work from all of our staff, customers and suppliers”.

The business continued to pay suppliers on seven-day terms and maintained its commitment to invest more than £300,000 in its Scottish ‘Oxygen Farm’ over the next ten years. 

Webmart launched a new carbon offsetting mailing scheme, Enviromail, last month.