Latest buy is‘not the end’
HARTLEPOOL electronics manufacturer Stadium Group has bought a £300,000 power supplies manufacturer after revealing it had lost out on bidding wars for other firms.
The £100,000 acquisition of Leicester-based Fox Industries is the latest of three made by Stadium’s power division in the last two years.
Stadium said Fox’s “good geographical spread and customer base” would provide greater access to the power supply market and revealed it was seeking further acquisitions after having bids for other firms rejected.
Chief executive Nigel Rogers said: “We were out-bid on two or three transactions by private equity buyers.
“The credit crunch has forced more companies to tighten their belts and has opened up opportunities for good quality trade.
“Some of these firms are grappling with the mistakes of yesterday rather than looking for the opportunities of tomorrow.”
He said the Fox acquisition had not forced an upward revision of growth forecasts, which predict pre-tax profits to rise to £2.8m in 2008 and £2.9m the following year.
Roger Barrett, director of Fox Industries, is to be appointed as business development director for Stadium Power and will be responsible for the integration of existing Fox business and ongoing growth strategy for filter and power supply products.
With an annual turnover of more than £300,000, Fox designs and distributes specialist power supplies, including EMC filters, inverters and converters for military, medical and industrial applications.
Stadium Electronics sources composite parts from its Chinese facility and supplies electronic manufacturing services to the consumer, industrial, medical and automotive markets.
The electronics division employs 121 staff at the group’s headquarters in Hartlepool and a further 1,200 throughout sites in the UK and China.
