Nottingham workwear and tool firm sold by Travis Perkins

A Nottingham based designer, manufacturer and wholesaler of workwear, power tools, hand tools and site equipment has been sold by its owner Travis Perkins to a south-west firm.

Birchwood Price Tools (BPT), which was bought by construction supplies giant Travis Perkins in 2011, has been bought by tools supplier and distributor Toolstream for an undisclosed sum.

BPT includes brands such as Scruffs workwear & safety footwear, Defender lighting and power distribution, Van Vault secure storage solutions, and Rhino heating & cooling products. The company, which employs 85 people at its Nottingham offices, will continue to operate as a stand alone business.

Matt Hunt, BPT managing director, said: “The trust that customers are placing in BPT, the pull from tradespeople and skilled professionals for BPT’s brands and the company’s results, are all speaking for themselves as the company goes from strength to strength.

“This is an exciting new chapter for our company and teams. Travis Perkins was clear it would only sell BPT to an organisation that would value our brands and our people, and that would offer the expertise and support to help us to continue to develop and implement our ambitious growth plans.”

The BPT brands now join the Toolstream portfolio, which includes the Triton, GMC, Dickie Dyer, Task and Bench Dog.

Hunt added: “We’re delighted that Toolstream has acquired us. Under our new ownership we will continue to improve our overall proposition and partnership approach, which will benefit, first and foremost, our existing valued and loyal customers who have been reselling our brands, in many cases, for years. We will also look to develop new relationships with organisations that we’ve not previously supplied, leveraging our expertise and proven success in a number of sectors.”