GARIC FARES WELL THROUGH THE RECESSSION
Garic the specialist plant hirer acquired by Bibby Line Group in October 2008 has gone from strength to strength over the past six months, reporting its highest turnover and utilisation rates in its history, despite the gloom of the wider recession. Garic operates out of its site in Bury which is purpose built to manufacture, maintain and prepare equipment for hire and sale.
During 2009 the management team at Garic invested in new systems, an extensive refurbishment of existing equipment and the introduction of a sales force to capture market share, adding 235 new customers by 2010, all benefiting from the Garic customer service experience.
At the end of 2009 Garic acquired the customer database and assets of Welfare Cabins UK (WCUK), a competitor that had gone into administration. WCUK was a welfare business specialising in welfare transit vans and lightweight towable units. This was a complex transaction as the equipment was financed by over forty companies across the UK. The team at Garic had to use all their expertise to successfully integrate this business with their own.
The purchase and integration was led by Gary Greally, Financial Director and Matthew Gresty, Operations Director. The deal was completed within two days after signing the contract on the Friday evening. The integration began that evening and throughout the weekend in order that Welfare’s customer contracts were transferred to Garic by first thing Monday morning.
The deal is a great success for Garic and has stimulated further growth. They have retained the WCUK website and phone number and a strong pipeline of enquiries continue due to the dual branding on their transit vans.
Garic has used this as a launch pad into the lightweight towable welfare market and have recently commenced production of these specialised units at their own manufacturing facility. These are expected to take the market by storm as they are built to a better standard than their competitors.
In April 2010 on the back of the success of the WCUK transaction Garic also acquired the sales database of Fastline welfare transit vans, a division of the Jarvis Group after they also went into administration. The return on investment was achieved within one month of this transaction.
Along with welfare provision Garic sells and hires large wheelwash systems, plantstores, fuel tanks, settlement tanks, drip trays, water bowsers and more. Garic products meet environmental and legislation requirements.
The team at Garic are geared up for further growth and look forward with optimism.