22.02.2006

Lavendon take Kestrel

The Lavendon group, Europe’s, largest aerial lift rental company has purchased Kestrel powered access, its second acquisition in two weeks.

Kestrel, 25th in the Cranes&Access 2005 Top access rental companies in the UK/Ireland, is run by managing director Mark May and Tony Ireland. It operates a fleet of 350 aerial lifts from a single depot in Bristol, employing 27 people.
See Kestrel, biggest single depot fleet?
See Kestrel sell hoist business

The audited accounts for Kestrel for the year ended 31 July 2005 showed revenues of £3.0 million, a profit before tax of £1.1 million, gross assets of £4 million and net assets of £1.6 million.

Revenues for the 12 months to the end of December 2005 are also £3.0 million with a profit before tax of £1.0 million.

Lavendon has agreed to pay £4.3 million in cash for the business with an additional £600,000 to £2.6 million cash payment dependent upon Kestrel's financial performance over the two years.

As part of the transaction, Lavendon will assume Kestrel's net debt of £0.5 million.

Lavendon chief executive, Kevin Appleton said “Kestrel has an enviable market reputation and presence in the South-West of England, and its acquisition is an important addition to the Group, complementing both the geographic coverage and customer profile of Panther Platforms, the Group's earlier acquisition announced last week.

The existing management team will remain with the business, and they will be encouraged to maximise the opportunities available through having access to a larger rental fleet and depot network offered by the Group's other UK operations."

Mark May said “We see this as a great opportunity for Kestrel’s staff and customers. We have built a strong business here in Bristol over the past few years but recognised that, if we were to continue growing, we needed to find a way to offer a broader range of products and services.

Becoming part of the Lavendon Group offers us all of the advantages of a large, national company structure but allows us to keep our business culture and customer relationships intact. It also offers increased career opportunities for our staff”

Kestrel is owned by Richard Bryan, Colin Stone, The May family and Tony Ireland. The company was founded by Colin Stone and Richard Bryan, they founded the business after splitting the Brandon Hire access divison off a while after the management buy-in of that business and subsequent expansion.

Vertikal Comment

Lavendon is clearly on a mission to regain and surpass the market position it enjoyed four years ago, at the same time as establishing a firm position in the UK regional aerial lift market.

With a strong management team from its recent Panther Platform Rental acquisition, tied in for at least two years, it makes sense now to leverage the team’s expertise by adding to its market coverage. Kestrel operates on of the largest single locations in the UK covering the south west from Exeter to Birmingham.

At the same time Lavendon/Nationwide it is helping with the consolidation of the UK market, following several years of fragmentation.

One question will be, what about the rest of Europe? Will this stronger UK presence help provide a more powerful base from which to continue its continental expansion? Or will growth of the Zooom operations be less important now?

Another question of course is who is next in the UK? look to gaps in Panthers network for answers..

One thing is for sure, the company is on the move again