The deal to sell Pall-Ex – the European haulage giant founded by ex-Dragon’s Den star Hilary Devey 23 years ago – has been completed.
The Leicestershire business announced last month that Ms Devey, founder, owner and chairwoman, had decided to sell it to its network of member haulage firms and its senior management team.
The £85 million turnover company, which is headquartered at Ellistown, near Coalville, runs networks in eight European countries, operating in 26 nations all together.
It employs around 400 people directly in the 海角视频, while its wider network supports around 8,000 jobs.
The business turned a profit of around £2.5 million last year.
The group uses its members to move pallets for one another.
Most of its 海角视频 freight passes through its central Leicestershire hub, where it is redistributed by the individual haulage firms.
It has similar hub and spoke operations in other countries and moves more than 30,000 pallets across the globe every day.
Most Read
Ms Devey, who started Pall-Ex in 1996, decided to step away from the day-to-day running, but will continue in an ambassadorial role to help develop its international services.
Since distributing 117 pallets on its first night on November 29, 1996, Pall-Ex has grown into a European network handling thousands of pallets every night, with partnerships established across the continent.
The entrepreneur who created a business empire from scratch
Hilary Devey is a Leicestershire treasure. Not only is she a high achieving businesswoman and entrepreneur, she is also a national celebrity having appeared on Secret Millionaire, Dragons’ Den and Channel 4 series The Intern.
She gained a wealth of experience in the distribution sector, having worked at Littlewoods followed by Tibbett and Britten, and Scorpio – part of the United Carrier network.
She then spent seven years in the retail distribution sector at TNT before leaving to set up her own business.
Before she launched Pall-Ex, it was difficult to transport small consignments of palletised freight quickly and cost-effectively.
Hilary quickly spotted this needed addressing and was responsible for revolutionising distribution in this country by developing a business model that would overcome this.
While setting up Pall-Ex she encountered many hardships.
Bankers refused to back her proposed venture and she was forced to sell her house and downgrade her car to fund its start up.
Many would have given up but single mother Hilary persisted, knowing that her idea simply had to work.
In the first year of trading, she put employees’ wages first and that Christmas she couldn’t even cover the cost of a festive dinner for her and her son.
After months of searching, Hilary managed to find her first premises and, in November 1996, Pall-Ex was born.
RUN D.M.C Investments, a company created by founder Pall-Ex network members David Fairbrother of ADD Express, Maggie Larimore of PMB Pallets and Craig Stevens of STD Developments, funded the initial membership part of the acquisition.
All have decades of experience running logistics businesses and are said to be looking forward to working together to take Pall-Ex to the next level of palletised freight delivery.
Pall-Ex managing director Kevin Buchanan – who has become the biggest individual shareholder – said ownership will be split 30-70 between the board and the 50-or-so member companies, which are mostly in the 海角视频.
He will remain in his existing post.
Don’t miss
He preciously said floating the business on the Stock Exchange had not been seen as an option, but felt that – if shareholders wanted to – it could be considered further down the line.
The new owners are also discussing shareholder options with Pall-Ex’s International partners, to further grow the European arm of the business.
Mr Buchanan said: “The senior management have bought into a five-year vision to build Pall-Ex, which is already an outstanding brand, into a market-leading European network.
“We are already in discussion with our International partners to invest further into Pall-Ex Group to deliver an ambitious development programme.
“We are also actively growing our 海角视频 network membership, to further increase our shareholder members within Pall-Ex 海角视频.
“I am excited about this journey and how far we can take the business, we have some key developments happening in the next few weeks, and so will be releasing information about these in due course.”
Maggie Larimore said: “We are delighted that more than 70 per cent of Pall-Ex’s 海角视频 membership will be shareholders and that the senior management have chosen to commit their long-term futures to help us grow.”