Key milestones

1969
Printers of Distinction and Quality, now known as PDQ, was founded in Goring, West Sussex by three local businessmen.

1970s
PDQ wins its first major contract to supply office supplies and furniture to Sun Alliance insurance group.

1985
Paul Humphrey, the current Financial Director joined the company.

1992
PDQ invested in telemarketing and was one of the first office suppliers to adopt this pioneering approach to sales.

1995
PDQ outgrew its original premises and relocated to Chartwell Industrial estate in Lancing, West Sussex. Ryan Flippance, the current Managing Director, was recruited to PDQ.

2000
Paul Humphrey and Ryan Flippance bought PDQ from the original directors and restructured the company.

PDQ’s success resulted in trebling the office and storage space from 1,000sq ft to 3,000 sq ft.

2003
Ryan Flippance was appointed Managing Director and Paul Humphrey took over the role of Financial Director. They purchased PDQ House, the company’s current head office and 18,000sq ft warehouse in the centre of Worthing, West Sussex.

Within a year, PDQ’s turnover exceeded £5m and the number of employees had grown to over 50.

2005
Adam Huttly and Barnaby Sharp were invited to join the board of PDQ as Sales Director and Commercial Director respectively.

2006
PDQ became one of the first office suppliers in the U.K. to be accredited by The CarbonNeutral company.

2007
PDQ re-launched its corporate identity and new strap line: ‘The natural choice for office supplies’ to convey its environmentally friendly promise to clients.

2008
PDQ launches its new website.

PDF of Newspaper cutting from 1974>