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148 
Securicor buys Russell Davies
Page 8
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by Karen Miles • Ron and Glyn Davies, founders of the Russell Davies Group, have increased their personal wealth by millions of pounds after selling the company to Stock Market giant Securicor.
But 48-year-old Ron Davies, who with his 45-year old brother-in-law will continue to run the container and contract distribution company under the Securicor banner, has assured drivers and subcontractors that business will continue as usual. The East Anglian operator's bid for British Rail's road/rail container business Freightliner will also be unaffected.
The £50m purchase takes Securicor into the £400m-turnover transport superleague—comparable with Wincanton Distribution and Transport Development Group's transport and distribution divisions in the UK and on the Continent.
"The businesses fit well with each other," says Securicor Parcels chief executive Pat Howes. "We have UK and European parcels and freight forwarding and now we will have containers and contract distribution. Our portfolio is complete." making a £5m profit on a £110m turnover and this performance will be improved by joint marketing through Securicor's UK and European parcels businesses.
There are no plans to merge the two companies' 195 locations, 10,500-plus employees and 4,400 vehicles but new sites may be shared.
Russell Davies Container Transport, which handles more than 1,000 containers a day, will be merged with its Continental counterpart Russell Davies Europe, probably trading as Russell Davies. Ron Davies will be its managing director.
The contract distribution business Russell Davies Distribution will be renamed Securicor Distribution and run by Glyn Davies.
Russell Davies' joint bid with the Port of Felixstowe and P&O Distribution for Freightliner will continue: "We have a commitment to the bid," says Ron Davies. "It simply does not change."