ROUNDUP: SAF-Holland swallows sales partner in Great Britain – share weak

BESSENBACH (dpa-AFX) – With a takeover, the truck supplier SAF-Holland (SAF-HOLLAND SE owner-act) wants to strengthen its business in Great Britain and Ireland. The SDAX company is buying the transport specialist IMS Limited, based in Shepshed, England, for a price in the low single-digit million euro range. The news caused little movement on the stock exchange on Thursday morning. The shares of SAF-Holland lost 0.8 percent in the weakening SDax.

With the takeover, the company intends to consolidate its market position in Great Britain and Ireland, and to expand its market share in the region. The established customer base of IMS Limited offers an “ideal starting point” for this, said SAF boss Alexander Geis. The new British subsidiary is to be included in the balance sheet from April, as SAF-Holland announced on Wednesday evening in Bessenbach. The seller of the company is the IMS Group, a previous exclusive sales partner.

The Europe, Middle East and Africa region has become a lot more important for SAF-Holland in the past year. Their contribution to total sales climbed slightly to just under 59 percent. SAF-Holland has been directly represented on the British market since 2018 by its subsidiary Axscend.

The acquired company IMS Limited employs 19 people and already sells two SAF-Holland brands. With the takeover, customers could be addressed uniformly, it said. In addition, the company wants to expand the particularly profitable maintenance business.

SAF-Holland employs around 3,600 people worldwide. Among other things, the company manufactures axles and chassis systems as well as fifth wheels and landing gears for trucks and trailers./jcf/ngu/mis