Mechan Controls switched on with deal

SAFETY switch manufacturer Mechan Controls has boosted its turnover by 40% after buying a Yorkshire mining supplies business.

Skelmersdale-based Mechan sees good export potential for PJO Group, which is based near Rotherham, and primarily supplies into the domestic market.

Previously family owned, PJO supplies utility companies as well as the deep mining industry. The £1.4m turnover company, which has 19 staff,  offers calibration, testing and repair services to the gas, electric and water industries and also manufactures mining consumables, methane extraction equipment and mining machinery.

PJO will continue to be run by managing director, Jim O’Grady, while his father, and company founder Pat, is retiring.

Wilf Boardman, group managing director of Mechan Controls, added: “PJO adds to our range of products and services and our experience in overseas markets, particularly the USA gives us the opportunity to really add value to the whole group.”

Mechan, which also owns Staffordshire-based Nirvana Engineering, employs around a dozen people in Skelmersdale and before the acquisition had a turnover of £2.5m.