Duple in £54m deal
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• Duple Group, the Blackpool-based coachbuilding concern, has been sold for £5.5m to the Cranleigh Group which has engineering interests in the North West. The deal is backed by the Slater Walker finance house.
Duple was taken over by Mr Frank B. Ford in September 1970. In the financial year which ended in August of that year the group had ,made a loss of /392,000 and was building an average of 10 coach bodies each week. In the year which ended in August last year profits were up to nearly /500,000 and 786 coaches were produced. In this financial year profits are expected to top /750,000 and the weekly production rate is 21-24.
Under the terms of the new deal Mr Ford will realize /3.6m in cash, retain the chairmanship of Duple and become chairman of Cranleigh. Duple's managing director, Mr H. J. Bigg, Cold CM this week that the takeover would mean no change in the organization, staff and products of Duple.