Acal moves supply chain HQ to Warrington with SSE buy
ACAL, the electronic components distributor, has bought 100% of Warrington-based Service Source Europe, and says it will become the headquarters for the group’s supply chain division.
The company, which yesterday posted a turnover of £165.4m for the year to the end of March with pre-tax profits down to £0.5m from £6.1m a year earlier, completed its acquisition of computer parts provider Service Source Europe in April.
It paid a total of £4.4m, including £1.2m of debt, for the company. Acal acquired 75% of the business in January for a cash consideration of £1.85m plus £0.35m for the repayment of shares, before taking the remaining 25% for £1m in April.
SSE, which has around 100 employees, will now become the headquarters for Acal’s £53m turnover supply chain division, and renamed Acal Supply Chain. Since January, it contributed £3.9m to Acal’s 2009 revenue.
In March 2008, SSE was the subject of a management buyout from the Warrington office of Flextronics, a multinational electronics manufacturer. The deal was led by George Buchan, James Bruce and Mark Hesketh.
Two former Acal directors, Jonathan King and Robert Hall, joined the board and bought into the business, each acquiring 16.3%. This team, together with another former Acal director Glyn Dodd, will now head the new business.
Acal chief executive Nick Jefferies told TheBusinessDesk that Acal bought SSE because of its management team.
He said: “We lost our management team to SSE about a year ago. We had a supply chain division without key management and they had our management, who were capable of running the whole business.
“The key was the management and we decided to put the management of SSE in charge of our whole supply chain.
“The acquisition means Warrington becomes one of Acal’s main management sites, and it is the head office for all supply chain activities.”
He added that the company expects to expand the warehouse facilities at the Warrington site.
“The reason we are investing in the supply chain business is that it is counter cyclical. When things are down, businesses have a greater need to repair what they have already got.”
