BUILDING services group Northern Bear has sold its second firm in two months and the third in a year but it says the disposals are now over.
The Chester-le-Street group, which buys construction services companies that continue to be run by their original management teams and staff, has sold The Roof Truss Company (Northern) Limited to its managing director and former owner Kevin Gray for £865,744.
The firm, which designs, makes and fits trussed rafters to houses, made profits of around £24,000 in the year to the end of March.
Northern Bear chief executive Graham Forrest said: “It was the only manufacturing business we had so it was non-core to our business.
“We looked at the various businesses last year and we identified a number that we felt it would be wise to streamline.
“That’s the end of the disposals and it’s business as usual.”
The sale comes after Northern Bear disposed of the loss-making Hastie Burton to Datewood Builders for £1 in April and sold commercial plumber DJ McGough back to its founders for the same sum last September.
It brings the number of businesses in the Northern Bear stable to 11. The group employs between 300 and 350 staff.
