Finnish Multinational Group Acquires Major Supplier To UK Manufacturing Sector

Phil Black - PII Editor 20/09/2016

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A UK market leader in supplying recyclable industrial wipes to the manufacturing sector has been sold to a Finnish multinational textile services group

Bradford-based Enviro Wipes, founded in 1992, has been acquired for an undisclosed sum, in a deal designed to take it to the next level, by Lindström. The buyer specialises in areas such as textile wiper services and workwear solutions.

Enviro Wipes provides, collects, launders and delivers multi-use cotton wipes to manufacturers across the UK and Ireland. Its activities also include selling a range of products, such as soap, gloves, protective creams and storage bins. The company had a turnover of £3.1m during the last full financial year and has approximately 1,500 customers.

The acquired organisation’s operations will remain unchanged following the sale, with all the about 40 staff being retained by the new owner. Directors George Parker, Alan Green and Phil Walker, who, with their wives, previously owned the company, will exit the business, with finance director Mr Walker remaining in post during the next few months to help with the transition.

Mr. Parker said: “Our company remains successful, but we’ve now reached a stage in its growth when we need to make significant changes, to ensure it has the best possible future.

“In Lindström, we’re confident we’ve found the ideal buyer. They’re a large, very successful, family-owned company, which is a leading player in the European textile rental market. The organisation has very high standards in areas such as safety, hygiene and sustainability and an outstanding reputation for delivering customer satisfaction.

“We have every confidence in the new owners and firmly believe they’ll provide our employees with security, opportunities to take on more responsibility, and chances to develop their careers for years to come. As they implement their plans to develop the business at an accelerated rate, we believe they’ll expand the workforce too.”

The acquisition represents the entry into the UK textile wiper services market by Lindström, which was already active in this sector in Finland and the Baltic states.

Lindström’s other British site, in Bedford, opened in 2001, where about 35 people work, will continue to concentrate on delivering, maintaining and sustainably disposing of workwear, so there will be no overlap with the Bradford operation. Over 25,000 people in the UK now wear Lindström workwear daily.

Soresh Meeda, managing director, Lindström UK, said: “Joining forces with Enviro Wipes provides a great opportunity for us to start with a totally new service in the market. Our new partner has a solid foundation, great products and fantastic customers. Enviro Wipes offers customers many benefits, including employee protection, waste footprint minimisation – through reduced use of disposable wipers – time and money savings, and the ability to focus on core operations.”

Mr Meeda said the acquisition was part of Lindström’s strategy to strengthen and grow its operations in the UK, with textile wiper services becoming important and integral to its offering plus providing an increasing amount of turnover.

He said: “By utilising the best ways of working from Enviro Wipes and ourselves, we believe we can really develop our operations in this market and grow, while offering even better, safer, more innovative, value-for-money services to customers in existing and new sectors.”

Corporate Finance advice on the deal was provided to Enviro Wipes by The Camlee Group, based in Sale, Greater Manchester, while Gordons LLP supplied its legal advice.

Overall, Lindström had a turnover of €302m (about £233m) in 2015. It operates in 24 European and Asian countries, employing 3,200 staff, and more than a million people sport its workwear each day. Last year, the company adopted a plan to increase turnover by about €200m (over £154m) during the next five years, with this being worth €500m (around £386m) by 2020, partly through acquisitions.