Enza merger driven by manufacturer Mercedes
THE recent merger of North West commercial vehicle companies Enza and Road Range to create Roanza was driven by manufacturer Mercedes Benz UK which wanted to deal with a smaller number of dealerships.
Roanza was born last month and is owned by Roy Reed and Steven Fox from Enza and former Road Range executives Brian Kempson and Mike Jones. The enlarged group has annual sales of £160m and trades from eight sites in the North West and North Wales.
The rationale behind the combination is explained in Enza’s newly-published annual accounts for 2013, which state: “As part of the commercial vehicle strategy of Mercedes Benz UK a decision was made to rationalise the representation of the dealership offering in the North West of England and North Wales.
“This decision has presented the shareholders of the two current representatives in this geographical area, Enza Group and Road Range Ltd ( part of the Robert Smith Group) with the opportunity to combine these successful businesses under a common ownership.
“The management expect significant benefits to arise from the merger including synergistic cost savings, the sharing of busness and technical expertise and developing customer relationships.”
Warrington-based Enza saw its sales in 2013 leap from £92m to £110m and operating profits rise from £1m to £1.2m after an “uptake of heavy commercial vehicles in the final trading months of the year.”
The group said heavy vehicle sales were at their highest level for “many years” – with van and after sales revenues “largely on plan”.
Enza has held the Mercedes-Benz franchise for Manchester, Cheshire and North Staffordshire since the manufacturer opened for business in the UK in the mid-1970s. Road Range was formed in 1980 to support operators on Merseyside, and was subsequently awarded additional responsibilities for Deeside and North Wales.
Roanza has a combined workforce of 400 employees, and will have added resources to make significant investments in new facilities and services.
Having previously led management buy outs of their respective dealerships, former Dealers Principal Brian Kempson (Road Range) and Roy Reed (Enza) now take the Roanza helm as Joint Managing Directors.
Meanwhile, the new company’s eight dealerships and one used truck centre will continue to trade under their previous names, pending completion of the integration process.
The merger in July was concluded with the help of £5.8m in funding from Santander Corporate & Commercial.
