Sold. Established Tool And Plant Hire Business With Two Large Outlets

Established Tool and Plant Hire Business with Two Large Outlets
Ref.JH016
Location West London
Asking Price £895,000
This now well established and profitable tool and plant hire company originally began trading from a newly fitted site in South London in 1987. With limited competition the business rapidly grew to become a successful and sizable operation, and in 2007 the opportunity was taken to acquire another similarly developed tool hire operation operating from a large site in West London.

The operations at the new location continue to build on already long established tool hire business. With recent investment in the property, streamlining of operations and the placement of key staff, the new branch has shown steady growth, and puts the company in a strong position for future expansion and further investment.

The business hires heavy plant, tools and equipment to a huge range of customers, from local builders, contractors and tradesmen stopping by the one-stop shop on a daily or weekly basis, to larger blue-chip accounts and local authorities, whose teams use the plant and services when working in the area. There is a large database of trade accounts, with the majority of customers being smaller builders / developers employing up-to 10 people. This large and diverse range of customers gives the business a great deal of stability without the reliance on any one major trade account.

The revenue streams of the business are split across equipment hire, equipment sales and retail sales. The business enjoys exceptional gross profit margins from hire revenue and very favourable margins from equipment and retail sales. The owner of the business is delighted that the majority of equipment is out on regular hire with minimal downtime, and the business operates at the right capacity to usually satisfy all requests with same day delivery, ensuring good equipment utilisation and excellent customer satisfaction!

The business employs a long serving team of knowledgeable staff and senior management, which helps to ensure the delivery of high standards with regards to customer service. There is an integrated front counter to back-office system based on the latest Syrinx hire software (from Hire Concept software) and sage accounting software. With the operations, procedures and processes very well systemised, the business is easy to operate from the Director level, and well placed for hand-over to new ownership on the basis of a turnkey operation.

Expansion Potential
The company is well placed for further growth. A full e-commerce system has been developed over the last twelve months and is about to come on-line, and with further marketing and potentially the employment of a sales and marketing manager much more business could be won across London and the south east, especially from larger clients and local authorities. With some further capital investment in equipment the company will be able to focus more on the larger accounts, thereby taking the business to the level of competing for more prestigious contracts alongside national hire chains.

Market / Competition / Non-Competition Agreements
The business has an informative web presence, with good search engine optimization, and as previously stated the vendors with their web support partner company have recently spent the last year developing a full e-commerce solution for the retailing of power tool and associated product lines. Whilst there has been significant advertising through directory and web links, the business has grown mostly through recommendation and referral from a prominent high street presence without significant competition.