Pretty big acquisition news was announced earlier on Tuesday as GAP (General All-Purpose Plastics Ltd) had acquired SIG Building Plastics and SIG Windows for an undisclosed sum. They purchased the SIG companies from SIG UK Exteriors.
Here is the full statement as published on the news section of the GAP website:
General All-Purpose Plastics Ltd (GAP); the Blackburn, Lancashire-based manufacturer, stockist and distributor of PVC-U roofline, doors and windows, has announced the acquisition of SIG Building Plastics and SIG Windows from SIG UK Exteriors.
The deal includes 66 Depots and business units plus their staff and the sales and marketing teams that support them directly.
SIG Building Plastics and SIG Windows are made up of four specialist areas of Drainage, Sheet Materials, Windows and Roofline. They include Scotplas, Omnico, CFS, PBM-DQS, Summers, Armour, Roplas, Toogood, Drainex, Plastics Pipe Supplies and Project Plastics. SIG’s Formerton Sheet Sales and Specialised Fixings businesses are also included in the deal. Ownership of all the brand names and trading styles transfers to GAP.
Launched 24 years ago by Co-Founders Simon Bird and Charles Greensmith, GAP meets the needs of its 31,000 customers nationwide – including several of the UK’s national and regional house builders, maintenance contractors and housing associations – through two large factories and its 46-Depot network; which it has been extending at the rate of one new facility per month.
GAP Co-Founder Simon Bird said: “Charles and I set out to build a business based on passion and people, and we remind ourselves every day that we owe our success to hiring and retaining amazing staff. Anyone who takes pride in putting customers at the centre of their working day and who thrives in a friendly, supportive, lively and fun environment, will enjoy being part of the growing GAP family.”
GAP’s Group Sales & Marketing Director Paul Sowerby, added: “From the first meeting with SIG we saw a well-organised, profitable business and a focus on supporting local tradesmen with the best quality products at the keenest possible prices. Their network of busy Depots is particularly strong in the South of England and so provides us with reach but limited overlap with our own existing network. It all makes for a perfect fit.”
SIG UK Exteriors Managing Director Andrew Wakelin said:
“The business environment is highly competitive and constantly changing. This means companies need to be agile, flexible and responsive to the needs of customers. This move is a positive affirmation of those principles and absolutely in line with our commitment to the development and success of our business. We’re confident that the Building Plastics and Windows product ranges have found a good home within GAP.”
GAP were advised by Garry Elliott, Matthew Davies, Ben Collins, Catherine Concannon, Richard Wilkinson, Jess Burgess, Beatrice Duke and Charlotte Marshall from Addleshaw Goddard LLP, and by Paul Trickett and Maninder Minhas from Deloitte M&A.
GAP Media Contact: Chris Hall, National Marketing Manager – 07814 755453 chris.hall@gap.uk.com
GAP and SIG are two of the largest companies in their own sectors of the wider construction industry, so this is a pretty big deal, as acquisitions go this year. It is also testament to the direction in which the fenestration sector is going in this country.
See the original article on the GAP website here
Trade counter business growing
This takeover sees GAP expand their number of trade counters across the UK by 66 depots, presumably most have a trade counter as part of those depots.
What this perfectly demonstrates is the strength that lies within the trade counter business at the moment. SIG is no slouch of a business. They have a strong presence throughout the UK, so although no figures are mentioned in the press release by GAP, you can bet safely that a fair few quid has passed hands in this transaction.
We have already seen the likes of Stevenswood rapidly expand their network via acquisitions, and we can bet that some more will be in the pipeline too.
I’m assuming they are already, but it should be time for fabricators to start looking at the trade counter business seriously. There are many trade counter networks now within UK fenestration where an installers can pick up literally everything they need to complete a contract, including the windows and doors themselves. The difference being between trade counters and fabricators, trade counters are open to trade and the public, fabricators only deal with their own signed up customers. Trade counters have that flexibility to deal with pretty much everyone. That brings it’s own nuances, something I’ll tackle in another post.
The rise of the trade counter business continues, and we’ll see more expansion later this year, I think…
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I sincerely hope the new owners will honour the guarantees that SIG gave to their customers: Certainly SIG did not honour the guarantees that were given by Omnico for Ultraframe roofs they supplied, when SIG they bought Omnico. Perhaps GAP would like to offer assurances.
It does not bode well for installers; they have to provide guarantees to the consumer, but are then at the mercy of the new owners of a supplier, when a takeover is made. A warning to all installers.
That’s a good point Anthony. Too often guarantees fall onto the installer with the supplier making any excuse not to honour their product. Reading reviews on line will see that this os often the case.