Airedale Group Creates Leading National Maintenance Operation For Catering Facilities With Acquisition of Flowrite Refrigeration
The Airedale Group, the leading UK specialist in the installation and servicing of catering equipment UK, is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of Flowrite Refrigeration Holdings Limited (“Flowrite” or the “Company”).
Commenting on the acquisition Airedale Group’s CEO Rob Bywell says:
“This is a significant and exciting investment and one that creates a compelling proposition. The acquisition of Flowrite coupled with our existing service operation, creates the largest specialist maintenance platform operating in the UK hospitality sector today, with a combined total of over two hundred service technicians.”
“Following the acquisition, Airedale’s offer is truly end-to-end; design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of everything in the commercial kitchen throughout the UK, which we believe to be a first in the UK market.”
Flowrite is a market leader in the refrigeration and air conditioning service market. The Company has an enviable customer base which includes some of the UK’s largest hospitality and retail brands. They receive a best-in-class service, from Flowrite’s market-leading technology platforms and professional team of one hundred engineers based throughout the UK.
Flowrite, under the leadership of their CEO Tod Harrison, has grown revenues through a combination of attracting new customers and expanding its geographic footprint – transitioning the business from a strong regional provider to a national player. Flowrite is recognised as one of the leading specialists in the UK market today having recently been awarded National Contractor of the Year in the Annual RAC Cooling Awards. Tod comments:
“We are very proud of what we have achieved as a team over the last 3 years with the support from our investment partner, Foresight. However we all believed the time was right for the next stage of our development. I don’t think there is any doubt that the team at Airedale is one of the most professional and entrepreneurial operating in the sector today and their track record is second to none. As a business they buy, invest and support their acquisitions. This philosophy of building a Group of highly complementary brands that are specialists and leaders in their respective sectors but also work closely together, was a compelling consideration and a key reason we chose to partner with Airedale for the next part of our journey.”
This acquisition brings together two long established and well respected companies in the hospitality sector and adds refrigeration, cellar cooling, remote monitoring and air-conditioning capabilities to Airedale’s already strong service offering. Rob adds:
“This is an exciting development for all our combined staff, customers and suppliers and I would like to take the opportunity to welcome all of the Flowrite team into the Group. The existing management will remain in place under Tod, and will continue to develop their day to day operations, grow the staff and their customer base which has been key to their ongoing success as proven by their recent industry award. I am also pleased to welcome Tod onto the Group Board and I, and the other members of our senior team look forward to helping them realise their ambitious plans.”
Rob goes on to say:
“We have the capacity and appetite to make further investments both in our current services and operations, as well as seeking complementary businesses as potential acquisitions. We intend to continue to deploy capital where we believe it aligns to our plan and long term objectives.”
Rob finishes by referencing some of the clients Airedale works within the hospitality sector:
“We understand that operators are under increasing pressure to reduce investment cost and identify initiatives where life-cost and downtime on critical equipment can be reduced. As the leading specialists in this sector, we have the scale, the know-how and systems and we can demonstrate that we can achieve these objectives.”
For any further information please contact our Group Marketing Manager Pete Walker.
