19.01.2007

New UK dealers for Merlo

Merlo UK has appointed two new distributors in southern England to cover the construction market. The first, Clive Barford Ltd a sales and rental company, has six locations from Cornwall to Kent.

The second is a new company, Professional Machinery Solutions of Aldermaston. The agreements with both companies are effective from January 1st.

Clive Barford Ltd claims to be the leading privately-owned compact equipment specialist in southern Britain. The company has six branches serving Cornwall, eastern parts of Surrey and Greater London, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Kent and East Sussex. Its business is split 50/50 between hire and sales and all six locations, all of which already have Merlo telehandlers in stock.

“It’s our ‘unified’ approach, with both parts of our business leading to our customers’ needs being satisfied. We have endless examples of hires turning into sales - we’ll even build that possibility into a contract".

"From the customer’s point of view, a pure sales dealer can’t have the service and support resources of a properly set up hirer - CBL has 80 service engineers” says managing director Charlotte Barford.
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(L-R) Barford's John Elliott, regional manager, Richard Sturgess and Mark Hodge regional director at the Merlo plant

CBL visited the Merlo plant in Italy in late 2006 to confirm its appointment.

Sales director Richard Sturgess said “The sales team is already very excited about the products as we have been constantly asked about taking on a telehandler franchise. We have looked at several in the past but not been impressed".

"Merlo, however, has a great reputation with tremendous features. Unlike any other plant factory I’ve visited, almost everything is made in situ, giving complete control of the manufacturing process and the care taken with quality is impressive”.

The second appointment, Aldermaston based Professional Machinery Solutions Ltd, or ProMac as it is known, is a new company but it incorporates a great deal of experience through its management team.

ProMac sales director, Grant Linton, partner Steve Long and depot manager Roy Lane have 75 years of construction machinery experience between them,
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(L-R) Roy Lane, Grant Linton and Steve Long of Promac

The company has already sold several Merlo machines since its appointment was confirmed. ProMac will represent Merlo in West London, Hertfordshire (along with most of Buckinghamshire), Oxfordshire, and Berkshire.

“We’re not looking to build a multiple franchise business,” says Linton, “We are concentrating on four ‘A’ Class products and Merlo is a key part of our lineup.”