09.04.2014

Appleton joins Horizon

Kevin Appleton, chief executive of Lavendon from 2002 until 2011, and currently a non-executive director of Ramirent has joined UK based access rental company Horizon Platforms as chairman.

Until recently he was also divisional chairman of Travis Perkins Builders Merchants, with responsibility for its equipment rental operations, leaving in September of last year. He is currently an associate director and adviser at Davies and Robson Consulting, was a founding board member of the European Rental Association and is a board member of the UK’s Freight Transport Association (FTA).
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Kevin Appleton

Horizon managing director Ben Hirst, said: “We are delighted to have Kevin join the board team and look forward greatly to benefiting from his experience of the industry and from the wide range of contacts that he can bring to bear. At a personal level we share very similar beliefs and values and we believe this will be essential in creating an environment of positive and productive challenge around the Board table. It is a signal that we have big ambitions for the business, and an equally clear signal that we want to achieve those ambitions in a way with which we all feel comfortable.”

Appleton added: “I have been deeply impressed with the work that Ben, Rory, Lindsay and the Horizon team have done so far. They have a solid, well-managed business and an encouraging desire to continually strive to do better. Theirs is also a business that places a central emphasis on how you deal with people – be they customers, colleagues, suppliers or the wider community – and I firmly believe that is a must for service businesses that desire to succeed. I am really looking forward to helping the team further develop what they have already built.”

Vertikal Comment

Well this is an interesting, if not entirely surprising move, since leaving Lavendon almost three years ago Appleton has kept his hand in with the platform rental business, through his role at Ramirent and other factors. Horizon Platforms for a long time now has been keen to grow, but without sacrificing the attention to detail and quality that, while easy for a small operation, becomes ever more challenging as the business expands, adding people and locations.

Founder Ben Hirst was joined by UpLift founder Ruairi Duggan as a director and investor in 2009 adding funding and management expertise, the company was a founding member of the Access Alliance, one of the first to obtain IPAF Rental+ quality standard, and since then has gone on to obtain a wide range of certifications and quality standards.

Lavendon’s UK operation Nationwide Platforms is widely acknowledged as a leader when it comes to safety and quality systems on a large scale, much of the work involved to achieve this would have occurred on Appleton’s watch, and this experience should be helpful to Horizon, although his financial contacts and knowledge of how to fund growth should prove even more useful.

This is quite a coup for Horizon and an interesting move for Appleton.