HI Group’s home delivery business has been acquired by Key Sales Limited, which is a division of the Pacifica Group that also owns JTM and 0800 Repair according to a statement by the administrator, Ernst & Young after the group fell into administration as we previously reported.
In a statement the administrators report that Key Sales Limited have acquired the business for a total sum of just over one million pounds for HI Way Express Home Delivery which was one of only two offers, the other having been withdrawn. It would also seem that Key Sales may have paid significantly more to acquire the business than they may have needed to pay for to acquire HI Express.
The report goes on to say that approximately £470,000 was owed to subcontractors to that business.
56 members of staff will transfer to the new owners with the sale protecting the jobs.
For the time being HI Express appears to be back to trading almost normally however we have no idea what the ongoing implications will be for the business or what the plans are for the business going forward at this time.
Kevin Brown, MD of Pacifica Group
In an article for NE Business Pacifica managing director Kevin Brown said: “More and more of our customers are shopping online, with fewer retailers actually holding stock and more expecting manufacturers to hold stock and deliver it. This is a great acquisition for our business as it targets future customer habits.
“We had been looking at the business for some time. I have known the MD at HWEHD for over seven years and Pacifica have used the company’s services for a number of years, so when this opportunity arose, we wanted to take advantage of it.
“With the additional revenue and further growth this will generate for the business, we are looking at turnover of around £20m in the year to the end of March 2013 and up to £25m in the year to the end of March 2014″
“We’re not only providing a fuller service to existing clients but we’ve also got contracts lined up for the latter part of this year and into next year.
“I know for certain those contracts are going to increase our number of employees in the North East by about 10 or 15. One of the contracts is providing after sales support to a major world-wide manufacturer and that is worth £1.7m to the company.”