Buy-out saves 20 jobs as ailing DJ Tool Hire finds new owner

May 8 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

A TOOL hire business which sank into administration in March has been bought out by national operator Hire Station, but four of the company’s seven sites are to close with the loss of 10 jobs.

DJ Tool Hire, of Tanfield Lea in County Durham, was forced to call in administrators from Deloitte two months ago as debts mounted.

The company’s 30 staff around the North East have been waiting to hear whether they will still have jobs, and yesterday a spokesman for Hire Station owner VP plc said 20 staff would be kept on to operate the outlets in Newcastle, Gateshead and Durham.

Harrogate-based Hire Station operated 87 branches around the UK before the acquisition of DJ, and the three new additions are to be integrated into that network. The value of the deal has not been revealed.

Administrators Ian Brown and Neil Matthews of Deloitte traded the DJ business while negotiations for a sale were conducted with VP.

Mr Matthews, director of reorganisation services at Deloitte in Newcastle, said: “It is pleasing to see DJ Tool Hire sold as a going concern. There are clearly operational synergies between the two companies and the sale should secure the employment of the majority of the workforce.

“The successful outcome is testament to the hard work of the workforce and administration staff during very difficult circumstances.”

VP plc chairman Jeremy Pilkington said: “The acquisition of the long-established DJ Tool Hire business further enhances our distribution capability for tool hire and associated services in the North East of England.”

DJ Tool Hire, which was run by boss Andrew Makepeace, has previously enjoyed annual sales of some £1.4m but is thought to have suffered from the downturn in the construction industry which has led to job losses in other firms.

When the administrators were called in, DJ was operating seven depots in Tanfield Lea, Consett, Durham, Newcastle, South Shields, Sunderland and Team Valley.

DJ Tool Hire was owned and run by Mr Makepeace and business partner Tony Appleton.

They bought the company in 2004 from the family who had launched it in 1977.

When they acquired the business, they were looking at ambitious growth plans, to push sales to £20m over the next five years, with up to 30 tool hire centres and a staff of 150.