Industry Acquisition: Clayton Glass Acquires Romag

Industry acquisitions are like buses, you wait ages for one then three come along. Well, it’s not quite a perfect analogy, but you I’m sure you catch my drift.

We had gone through a bit of a baron period on the industry deals front, then, at the end of last week it was announced that Polyframe was bought by it’s senior management team. A few days later a management buy-in was completed at Barnsley based Sash UK.

Now, to round off a spectacular week of industry business activity, Clayton Glass has bought fellow North East glass specialists Romag Ltd. I make that three announcements in a week!

The press release

Here is the official announcement:

County Durham-based Clayton Glass Ltd has announced the acquisition of specialist glass manufacturer Romag Ltd for an undisclosed sum.

As a result of this acquisition by Clayton Glass, the new deal brings together two of the North East’s leading glass and glazing businesses under the same ownership. However, they will continue to operate as separate entities with their respective management teams, operating in completely distinct parts of the glass industry.

Romag produces specialist glass products and security glazing laminates, serving the building integrated PV, security, architectural and transport sectors. The company has annual sales of around £15 million and employs 150 people. Clayton Glass Group manufactures insulated glass units for the domestic sector and specialist glass for conservatories and is based in North Stanley with further manufacturing sites in South Shields and an investment in Northern Express Glass based in Fleetwood. This equates to a turnover of £27 million, employing 250 people.

Combined, the new Group will have a turnover in excess of £40 million, with over 400 employees, making it one of the largest independent glass companies in the UK. Though there are core synergies between both companies, including some glass finishing processes, each will continue to be run independently, though there will be opportunities for solar PV for the solid roof market through the market leading SMARTGLASS^® brand.

Ryan Green, managing director of Clayton Glass commented: ‘The strategic acquisition of Romag is a great fit for Clayton, given the geographical location and glass sector in general. In time we hope to be able to co-work on projects, but for the immediate future our focus remains on building both businesses on the back of excellent product quality, innovation and exemplary levels of customer service.’

Earlier this year, Clayton Glass was included in the prominent third edition of London Stock Exchange’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain report and also won IGU Manufacturer of the Year 2015 in the National Fenestration Awards.

For further information on Clayton Glass, visit www.morethanjustglass.co.uk, e-mail enquiries@morethanjustglass.co.uk or call the sales office on 01207 288200. For information on Romag visit www.romag.co.uk, call 01207 500000 or e-mail sales@romag.co.uk.

Analysis

This deal creates a hefty outfit in the North East, with the new group commanding an impressive number of staff and impressive combined group turnover.

It will be reassuring to both companies that Romag will continue to operate with autonomy, but there is a natural synergy between the two, and I think although mentioned only briefly, there is going to be a lot of potential in their standout glazed roof product SMARTGLASS®.

I would also like to point out that this is now the third post-Brexit-vote industry deal to be completed in a very short space of time. It was widely anticipated that if the UK voted to leave then these types of deals would probably fall by the wayside. There appears to very little appetite to call these deals off, and perhaps shows that business leaders in this sector continue to see strength and opportunity where others may be less positive.

Congratulations to Clayton Glass and Romag on what should be a great deal for both companies.