15.08.2014

Werner acquires Youngman

US based ladder manufacturer Werner has reached an agreement to acquire all of the shares of UK access equipment manufacturer Youngman.

The acquisition will merge Youngman’s tower, low level scissors lifts and other access products with Werner’s existing UK ladder business, Abru and will be conditional on clearance from the UK Competition and Markets Authority.

Werner acquired Abru in 2011 See Werner moves in to the UK and has its international headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1922 and entered the ladder market in 1950. It has also has operations in Australia and China.

Youngman was acquired by the current owners in a Management Buy Out from SGB in 2005 led by Paul Bentley, with Chris Owen, John Bungay and Jerry Stapleton. Revenues back then were reportedly in the region of £37 million. Revenues have been slipping slightly in recent years and were just over £33 million last year, with pre-tax profits of £23,000. The company
maintains a very strong balance sheet. The company manufactures a full line of aluminium scaffold towers, podiums and ladders while marketing a range of low level scissor lifts which it has manufactured in China.

Werner chairman William Allen said: “This acquisition continues Werner’s expansion in the world-wide ladder and access products market. The Youngman and BoSS brands are well recognised tower and trade access product brands in the United Kingdom and fit well with Werner’s existing UK ladder business. We are confident that the deal will benefit the industry by allowing us to offer a single integrated portfolio that combines our complementary strengths – Youngman’s focus on towers and other trade products and Werner’s focus on ladders and other DIY access products.

The acquisition is expected to complete later this year, subject to competition clearance.
you can read more about Werner in the UK from the low level article in Cranes & Access 14.3 Simply click here to download the adrticle.

Vertikal Comment

While this is a surprise it is not surprising, the management team has successfully steered the company through the recession, and following a hard year in 2012 moved back into profit in 2013. They have also managed to maintain revenues above £30 million at a time when the core alloy tower and ladder markets are not only in general decline, but also facing tough competition from low cost producers in China.

Nine years on from the MBO, with the market more buoyant and the managers now in their late 50s the time is hardly better to be looking for an exit strategy and they appear to have found a good one in Werner.