Through HMSO & Kingfield Heath, evo can trace it’s history back well into the 18^th Century, with HMSO the first originating company to be founded, back in 1786.

Read on below to find out more about the history of our founding companies…

The History of HMSO

HMSO came into being during the 1780s when, as the costs of maintaining its empire began to mount, the British Parliament undertook a study of redundant costs in the administration of the government. Among the study’s conclusions was that the government used too much paper. Naturally, those who most benefited from this abuse were the stationers who provided the parchment, ink, wax, and other supplies at public expense.

The government therefore set out to establish an official stationer who would be singularly accountable to the Treasury. On April 5, 1786, the government authorised John Mayor of the Treasury to create such an agency at New Palace Yard under the name His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Gradually, the government’s paper supply purchases were shifted to this office as the government’s contracts, or “patents,” with private suppliers expired.

By August 15, 1787, the officially sanctioned Stationery Office supplied 11 agencies, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The business of the Stationery Office – and its staff – continued to grow with the expiration of additional independent contracts, the last of which was terminated in 1800.

In 1882 HMSO became the official publisher for both houses of Parliament, and in 1889 HMSO was appointed as the Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament and became the publisher of the London Gazette in the same year.

Fast-forward to 1996 and HMSO was privatised as The Stationery Office (TSO), with the Business Supplies part of the business being spun off in 1999 as Banner Business Supplies.

The History of John Heath

John Heath established his stationery business in 1852, delivering office products around the Birmingham area and later into other parts of the country.

According to a trade press article in The British & Colonial Printer and Stationer, 1892: “John Heath was the originator of a plan of displaying the miscellanea of the stationery trade that has contributed more than any other that we know to the fostering of small sales, with consequent profits. Gradually other houses adopted the same method of showing their wares”

In February of 1993 John Heath acquired Neville and Gladstone, another national wholesaler of office products. Neville and Gladstone had themselves previously acquired Pilot Stationers, Brady and Hunt and Beaumonts Furniture. N & G also introduced their own Punchline brand subsequently adopted by John Heath.

Kingfield Heath was formed in October 1999 by the acquisition of John Heath and Co, the oldest office products wholesaler in the UK, by Kingfield Wholesale Office Supplies.

Between 2000 and 2002 the company set about an ambitious integration of the two companies. The transition included relocation to a new purpose built headquarters in Sheffield and the investment of £20 million in a new 11,000,000 cubic ft. distribution centre at the heart of the UK motorway network at Magna Park in Leicestershire.

How the evo Group Came Together

In 2007, Electra Partners (a Private Equity Firm), completed the acquisition of both Kingfield Heath (see above) and isa (another large wholesaler). The resulting group was named Vasanta, with the wholesale parts of the business renamed as VOW.

Vasanta Group and Office2Office came together in 2014 to form the EVO Group.

Banner Business Solutions joined the group in 2014, and Supplies Team merged with the Banner business in 2016.

In 2019 evo acquired Bradford-based Premier Vanguard, which had itself been formed by the 2008 merger of Premier Rolls and Vanguard Paper.

Banner acquired the license for the Staples UK business in 2020.

In 2023 evo completed the acquisition of Complete to add another large dealer to the group.

Also in 2023, the evo Foundation was launched, going on to raise nearly £200k to date through fundraising efforts throughout the group.

In 2024 evo acquired the 5 Star brand from Paragon.

In 2026, evo acquired the stock and trade of Exertis Supplies, along with welcoming some former Exertis colleagues into the evo group.