Yorkshire timber merchant snapped up by rival

YORKSHIRE’S John Boddy Timber has been bought by hardwood timber merchants Associated Timber Services.

Grantham-based Associated Timber Services purchased the assets of the North Yorkshire firm after agreeing a £1.25m funding package from Santander Corporate & Commercial.
 
Boroughbridge-based John Boddy Timber is a family business which has been in operation for 120 years. The acquisition will see Associated Timber Services become the largest home-grown hardwood timber merchant in the North of England.  It will save jobs and strengthen the existing business by providing a one-stop-shop service from ‘tree to finished product’.
 
Andy Lodowski, founder of Associated Timber Services, said: “We are very excited about this latest expansion. We now have three sites across the North of England which will help increase our market share and allow us to provide economies of scale to our customers.  We have invested in a number of different outlets over the past few years and feel very confident in our growth strategy.”

Founded in 1987 by current managing director and majority shareholder Andy Lodowski, Associated Timber Services offers an end-to-end service in sourcing and supplying hardwood to a wide customer base. 

The business has a successful track record in M&A activity and investing for growth. In 2007 Associated Timber Services purchased saw mill Sewstern Timber Services and then, in 2011/2012, invested around £1.4m in a state-of-the-art biomass boiler fuelled from off-cut waste wood – becoming energy self-sufficient in the process.

Liz Pickering, relationship director for Santander Corporate & Commercial, said: “We are delighted to be supporting this great local business and helping it grow further and reach new customers.  The drive and passion is evident in Andy’s continued success and we are confident this latest acquisition will help him take the business to the next level.”
 
BHP Corporate Finance advised Associated Timber Services and Santander in relation to the acquisition. 

John Longstaff, director at BHP Corporate Finance, said: “We are pleased to have worked with Andy and Santander on this acquisition.  John Boddy Timber has an impressive reputation and I am confident it will be re-established as a key player in the hardwood timber market under Andy’s stewardship as part of ATS.”