Growing West Midlands metals group snaps up brace of firms from Hill & Smith
One of the oldest businesses in the Black Country has been snapped up in a deal that sees it become part of a growing manufacturing group.
All 40 workers at Bromford Iron & Steel, in Oldbury, will keep their jobs following the takeover by OSSL – Off Shore Sourcing Ltd.
Bromford was sold, along with Birmingham firm Envirotanks, by former owners Hill & Smith in a £1.5 million deal announced yesterday
Bromford, which can trace its roots back to a blacksmith making swords on the Bromford Lane site in 1610, now makes hot-rolled steel, used in the manufacture of industrial flooring and specialist steel for chain and horseshoe making.
Envirotanks is a small niche market supplier of storage tanks for industrial applications.
In 2013, the two businesses had combined revenue of £15.5m and operating losses of £600,000.
Hill & Smith says it has sold the businesses to concentrate on its core operations, including its motorway safety barriers company in Bilston.
Hill & Smith chief executive Derek Muir said: "The disposal is in line with our strategy of focusing on our core activities, improving financial performance metrics and creating scalable business units that can drive and deliver further growth."
The deal sees OSSL, owned by veteran businessmen Peter Davies and Chris Hutton-Penman, double in size.
It already owns West Bromwich forging business Brockhouse and Wolverhampton steel stockholder D&J Steels, which have seen sizeable investment in new equipment in the last two years.
OSSL has just been listed among the '1,000 companies to inspire Britain' by the London Stock Exchange.
Mr Hutton-Penman said they were on a 'crusade' to secure the future of good manufacturing firms, and build a group of "traditional West Midlands-based metals companies."
The future looks bright for both Bromford and Envirotanks, which will remain as independently operating businesses at their present sites with no job losses.
Peter Davies said: "We love traditional industrial companies, and we invest in them.
"The fact is that these are two great businesses, but they are traditional industry and they don't fit into Hill & Smith any more."
He added: "People have been bashing steel on Bromford's site in Oldbury since 1610, back when it was a blacksmith making sword blades and making use of the 10 yard thick seam of coal nearby.
"In 1690 they established an iron forge and, despite changes of owner over the years, there has always been Bromford."
