Tilley grows after swallowing rival

ROOFING specialist DW Tilley could boost its £9m sales by as much as 40pc after taking over three offices of failed rival Four Seasons Roofing .

Ponteland-based DW Tilley, which has 100 staff at four offices across the UK, has now taken on more than 20 extra staff at Four Seasons offices in Manchester, Walsall and Southampton.

Four Seasons, based in Manchester, went into administration on February 9 this year, leaving its 50 staff wondering if a buyer could be found to save their jobs.

The directors contacted DW Tilley and managing director David Tilley negotiated a deal to rescue three of the company’s six offices nationwide.

Now Mr Tilley aims to take the company onwards as his team integrates the Four Seasons operations into the existing business.Mr Tilley said the acquisition of the Four Seasons offices made sense given the make-up of the commercial roofing industry. He said: “I was approached by the directors of Four Seasons. In terms of the industrial roofing refurbishment business, we are one of the biggest privately-owned companies in the country, and our competition had come from one plc and then Four Seasons.

“We expect to increase our turnover now by about 40pc over a 12 to 18-month period, from these new offices.”

DW Tilley’s clients include a wide range of industrial and commercial outfits, as well as local authorities. The firm – in business in its current form since 1982 – employs 40 staff at its Ponteland head office. Mr Tilley said the company would not be looking for any further acquisitions for the time being, and would instead concentrate on integrating the Four Seasons business.

The managing director of the 23-year-old firm said he had decided not to acquire the other Four Seasons offices – in Paisley, Scotland; Bridgwater in Somerset; and Caerphilly in Wales – as he did not consider them to be a practical proposition.

He said: “In Scotland, we already had an office, and I did not think the Four Seasons office would bring much to the party. And Caerphilly and Bridgwater were a little bit too far logistically.”

Exert from "The Journal - northern business daily" March 05