Leach acquired by French-owned Chargeurs
The Chargeurs Group, which already boasts a €533m (£466m) turnover has boosted its chances of reaching the goal of becoming a €1bn (£874m) turnover company in the next five years, with the acquisition of Yorkshire-based graphics display specialists Leach.
Thursday, 26 Apr 2018 11:55 GMT
Leach has been acquired by French-owned Chargeurs, but business will continue as usual for the West Yorkshire business
The French company had supplied Leach with the pearl material that it uses for its lightboxes and has done so for the last seven years. The majority of Chargeurs’ business is accumulated outside of France, and Leach managing director Richard Leach saw this as the ultimate opportunity to take the company global.
Leach explains: “Having experienced ten consecutive years of expansion, a key part of our long-term strategy was to evaluate opportunities to build upon on reputation and legacy, on a global scale. We are very proud of our 127-year-old heritage, and we do not want to shy away from that, but we’ve long known that we are still structured like a family-run business.
Established in 1872 they also have similar values to Leach in terms of quality, innovation, and culture. The fit seems very natural, so we are therefore delighted to have reached the position where we can make this acquisition announcement today”
“This operating model does not support the level of next-step growth that we know we are capable of achieving, so we started evaluating the option to sell. But we have taken great care in choosing the new owner. Chargeurs is a €533m (£466m) turnover business of which more than 90 percent was generated outside France, based on five continents and an unparalleled understanding of the market on a global scale.”
He adds: “Established in 1872 they also have similar values to Leach in terms of quality, innovation, and culture. The fit seems very natural, so we are therefore delighted to have reached the position where we can make this acquisition announcement today.”
Chargeurs has a customer portfolio spreading over 80 countries—including luxury fashion houses across the globe. Leach can now benefit from this and the financial support which means the business can now operate for 24 hours a day. Leach’s annual turnover of £11m will also fuel Chargeurs’ future profit goals.
It’s business as normal at Leach’s West Yorkshire headquarters. We’re maintaining the same offices, the same team, and the same brand”
Leach continues: “We typically invest a quarter of a million pounds per year into innovation and new product development. But with the financial resources and international knowledge of the Chargeurs team—combined with our own—we have an even greater platform to launch new display products for retail, brand, and visitor environments.
“By creating more of a closed loop business model with the supplier of our best-selling print material, we can also offer even sharper response times, which should give us a more distinct competitive edge in the marketplace.”
On the switchover, Leach concludes: “It’s business as normal at Leach’s West Yorkshire headquarters. We’re maintaining the same offices, the same team, and the same brand. What the acquisition does mean, however, is that we have better access to investment, and the global markets we wish to target.”
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