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Pipework company is sold to engineering group
Gage Engineering, a pipework and structural steel supplier based in Ellesmere Port, has been acquired by one of the UK’s leading engineering businesses, Ardeth Group Ltd.
Vanguard Corporate Finance and law firm DWF advised the vendors Tony Roylance and Ray Evans, who founded the business in 1988.
Gage Engineering employs around 40 people manufacturing pipework and structural steelwork for the food, chemical and petrochemical industries. The company also has extensive experience in making ladders, platforms and staircases and in plant and machinery installation. Clients include divisions of Unilever and Shell, which outsource parts of their internal pipework requirements.
Established in 1974, Ardeth is based in Elland, West Yorkshire and is one of the UK's leading multidisciplinary engineering companies with an extensive blue-chip client base across a wide range of industries. It produces pressure vessels, pipework and plastic equipment.
Brian McCann of Vanguard Corporate Finance who led the deal said: "The successful sale of Gage shows that good buyers can be found for companies of real quality even in the current market"
The DWF team was led by partner Kieran Donovan and included solicitor Kyle Quinn, both from the Liverpool corporate team, and real estate lawyer Christopher Morris.
Kieran Donovan said: "Tony Roylance and Ray Evans have built a successful business with a skilled workforce and a reputation for quality The sale will allow them to step down while safeguarding the future of the business. Gage’s expertise in hygienic pipework will also allow Ardeth to expand its skills and its customer base and provide it with cross-selling opportunities." |
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| Winner - Merseyside Innovation Awards 2009 |
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| Wildlife charity wins innovation award
Liverpool-based wildlife charity Landlife Group, which has developed a soil inversion technique to increase biodiversity, has been crowned the winner of this year's Merseyside Innovation Awards, beating fellow finalists Isothermal Technology and Industrial Purification Systems. The business scooped the award at a ceremony held today at Liverpool's Crowne Plaza Hotel in front of 150 people. Landlife will now receive a £10,000 cash prize plus £4,000 worth of legal, business, accounting or design consultancy; support from some of the region's leading business advisers; and publicity for the idea. Grant Luscombe, chief executive of Landlife, said: "In Liverpool's Year of the Environment, it is fantastic to get this recognition. With this money and advice we can look at the intellectual property rights around this, which we could not have done before." The winner was judged by a panel that included Trevor Baylis, the inventor of the Clockwork Radio, Professor Murray Dalziel from the University of Liverpool and Steve Smith, ICT director at Liverpool Vision. The awards aim to recognise and reward the use of innovation as a means of boosting growth and profitability. They are sponsored by Insider, Vanguard, Alliance Fund Managers, Amatica, BBC Radio Merseyside, Brabners Chaffe Street, Business Link, Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, Paver Smith, RBS/Natwest, RTC Northwest, The University of Liverpool Business Gateway and WP Thompson.  |
| The finalists |
Landlife Group
Wildlife charity Landlife Group, based in Liverpool, has developed a soil inversion technique that can increase biodiversity and sustainable land management. The concept is said to have major commercial potential as it has an application for all new forestry plantations and ecological restoration work across lowland agricultural Britain. The organisation, which employs 35 people, uses all fees and sales generated help support the Landlife and National Wildflower Centre. |
Industrial Purification Systems
Industrial Purification Systems (IPS) in St Helens has developed experience in the field of industrial and commercial water filtration for the past 30 years. It reached the final thanks to its new water filter technology that improves filter performance, can provide energy savings of 15 to 20 per cent and can reduce the risk of legionella. The company believes the innovation could swell sales growth by £10m over the coming years. IPS employs six staff and has a turnover of £1m. |
Isothermal Technology
Temperature calibration business Isothermal Technology turned up the heat in the competition with its revolutionary precision thermometer for use in metrology labs around the world. The microK 100 is the latest product in the microK family, which generates around £400,000 in sales each year. It has the capability to measure temperature that is accurate to 0.0001°c. Isothermal Technology employs 45 people at its headquarters in Southport. | |
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