Car parts firm acquired by £200m-turnover group
VEHICLE component group Andrew Page has made a strategic acquisition of a Midlands firm that will strengthen its sourcing capability in China and the Far East.
Solid Auto (UK) has been bought for an undisclosed sum as part of Andrew Page’s growth strategy in the car parts market.
Mark Price, managing director of Halesowen-based Solid Auto, said he was “confident there will be significant benefits across the group” because of its three decades’ experience in sourcing from the Far East.
Japanese and Korean cars make up around 20% of the UK car market and Andrew Page’s chairman Jim Sumner believes the acquisition will help the group towards its goal of becoming “the UK’s leading specialist Japanese and Korean car parts player”.
He added: “We are very strong in American, UK and European marques. There is a very good growth opportunity for us in Japanese and Korean car parts. We are actively pursuing a differentiation strategy. Our key brands are increasingly differentiated from what competitors are offering and acquiring Solid Auto drives that further.”
The Leeds business, which is backed by private equity houses Endless and Phoenix Equity Partners, has also revealed its latest financial figures which show a marked improvement in its performance.
The investors introduced “significant new funding” into the business in March 2014, enabling it to be debt free and have the capital to help it towards its target of doubling revenues within three years.
The company says that accounts, which are not yet filed at Companies House, show a 12% increase in turnover to £192m. It also says its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA, a measure of operational profitability) doubled to £9.6m in the year to September 2015.
Andrew Page, which is owned by Colton Mill Holdings, invested £15m in its 2015 financial year. More than half was spent on a 500-strong fleet of vans and £1m-plus in a state-of-the-art telephony system, while it has increased capacity by 40% at its central distribution centre at Markham Vale, next to the M1 motorway.
In a refinancing at the end of 2014, Endless was repaid £25.3m of its senior debt after Andrew Page agreed a £40m asset-backed agreement with PNC.
Mark Saunders, chief executive of Andrew Page, said: “You can see the culmination of these improvements in the results, the first since our refinancing. We have a growth strategy, a wonderful distribution network with overnight capability and we remain very optimistic about the future.”
