Rival seizes opportunity to expand network with experienced personnel.
Things are hotting up in the UK emergency replacement hydraulic hose business with the news that Rochester-based Hydraquip has acquired the leases on 16 new mobile workshops previously destined for the newly-collapsed BMI Hose. At the same time, the company has taken on 14 former members of BMI’s staff as it seeks to draw closer to the heels of UK market leader Pirtek.
“On Thursday 21 February, my staff were inundated with calls from BMI staff and engineers who were facing a very uncertain future following the unexpected collapse and closure of the company. On the Friday, we made a decision that – subject to being able to acquire the 16 brand new mobile workshops that BMI had just leased from Ogilvie – we would look to save as many jobs as possible and expand our own metwork,,” explains Hydraquip founder Duncan MacBain. “We took very decisive and positive action because we knew the experience most of the BMI staff had. We employed three staff on the Friday, flew up to Humberside and employed five staff from the Scunthorpe and Wakefield branches on the Sunday. On the Monday, I flew to Gloucester and Cardiff and employed another three. To date, I have managed to employ a total of 14 former BMI staff; a very good set of people with skills and knowledge in our industry.”
Of course, MacBain and his team have not taken former BMI personnel and vehicles under their wing for purely altruistic reasons. The acquisition of the vans will shortly take the Hydraquip fleet to 65 across the UK, putting it in second place behind established UK market leader Pirtek which boasts 400.
However, MacBain’s decision to pay the former BMI staff a month in advance to offset their alleged non-payment by their now defunct former employer is certainly to be applauded.
This latest round of acquisitions and expansion mark a continuation of a remarkable period of growth for Hydraquip which was only founded in 1989. “By the year 2000 we had two vans and eight staff operating from a single location. But following a series of acquisitions of local independent emergency hose replacement companies, we now have 130 staff at 10 locations,” Duncan Macbain concludes. “At the same time, have grown from less than £1 million turnover in 2000 to around £12 million in 2012 with around £15 million forecast for 2013.”
