AN Anglesey-based builders' merchant has lost its bid to enforce a non-compete clause against an ex-employee who had left the company for a rival firm.
In a judgment handed down in Bristol on June 17, Judge Jonathan Russen KC dismissed Llangefni-based Huws Gray Limited’s claim for continuing injunctive relief against former area sales manager Daniel Gentleman.
The court refused to enforce a six-month restriction imposed on Mr Gentleman, who had left the company to join MKM Building Supplies.
The judge said that had the judgment been given before the covenant expired, he would have discharged the non-compete injunction granted earlier in the proceedings.
He also set aside an injunction preventing the use and disclosure of confidential information.
Huws Gray, a nationwide builders' merchant, employed Mr Gentleman between October 2023 and December 2025.
By the end of his employment, he was responsible for customer relationships at the its Swindon, Newbury and Cirencester branches.
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Mr Gentleman had given the company one month’s notice on November 23, 2025 and was placed on gardening leave four days later.
Huws Gray then asked him to confirm that he would comply with his post-termination restrictions after he told his line manager that he was leaving to join MKM at its new Swindon branch - he began working for MKM on January 6, 2026, with the Swindon branch opening on March 2.
Huws Gray argued that Mr Gentleman had breached a six-month non-compete covenant by immediately taking up employment with MKM, a direct competitor, and by approaching key customers in early 2026.
It also alleged that his doing so must have involved the use of confidential information, including customer data, pricing information and knowledge of ongoing projects.
The judge accepted that Huws Gray had a legitimate interest in protecting customer connections, including the 103 customers on what was referred to as Mr Gentleman’s ledger.
Mr Gentleman said he had no practical need to know Huws Gray’s pricing thresholds, and that sales discussions focused on whether a rival’s quote could be matched or beaten, rather than the company’s own prices, evidence the judge described as "telling".
The judge held that Huws Gray’s argument about Mr Gentleman’s alleged knowledge of pricing thresholds was “baseless”, adding that the company had “attempted to build a case based upon the risk of misuse of confidential information”, despite his role being focused on customer relationships.
Since the non-compete injunction had lapsed on 27 May 2026, it would have discharged it had the judgment been delivered earlier, the judge said.
He also discharged the confidentiality injunction.
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