Unigate buys Valley 100-vehicle group
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Unigate, through its Wincanton Group subsidiary, has acquired • the South-Wales haulage and garage businesses of the Valley Group of Companies which has its headquarters at Sully, near Penarth. It is mainly engaged in road haulage and the garage trade through Valley Carriers Ltd and Grove Commercial (South Wales) Ltd.
Valley Carriers is the principal company, operating 92 lorries, 83 semi-trailers and 27 specialist bulk powder tankers. Its main business is carrying plastics, synthetic resins and industrial raw materials and two of its major chemical contracts are with BP Chemicals International Ltd at Baglan Bay and Barry and with Dow Chemicals Ltd. An increasing amount of traffic for BP involves Continental deliveries.
Grove Commercial is engaged in vehicle bodybuilding, repair work, painting and the sale of commercial vehicles. Guy vehicle distribution is a major part of the business.
The deal includes the purchase of freehold premises for both the transport and garage activities and gives the Wincanton Group additional facilities in the area. Ted Wall, Managing Director of Wincanton Transport, said that as a first step the 26 Wincanton. tankers currently based in Cardiff, some five miles from the newly-acquired premises, will shortly be transferred to Sully for operations and maintenance: Sir James Barker, chairman and chief executive of Unigate said: "We already operate a fleet of 600 vehicles under Wincanton Transport and the addition of a further 100 vehicles will strengthen us considerably: "Further acquisitions of this nature are in the pipeline", Sir James added, "and we hope to be announcing more expansion in transport and garages before very long".