TOM Vehicle Rental has underlined its appetite for acquisitions after the company continued its expansion in England by acquiring a London-based rival.
The Airdrie-based firm has bought East-London based Solar Self Drive for an undisclosed sum in a deal that will allow the company to increase its presence in the key south of England market.
James Rafferty, sales and operations director at TOM, said the company was an attractive fit. The company expects the acquisition will allow it to win new customers and more trade from existing clients.
“The East London location gives us a great platform for further growth, opening up untapped markets in Greater London and the South East,” said Mr Rafferty.
“We expect to do more business with some existing customers and believe it will enhance our appeal to larger blue-chip customers with national operations, some of whom we’ve courted previously but weren’t able to do business with as we didn’t have a depot in the region,” added Mr Rafferty.
He said the addition of Solar Self Drive’s Barking depot completes a UK backbone of 10 locations for TOM.
The purchase is the third that TOM has made in England in the last 12 months.
The privately-owned firm bought Leicestershire's Eurofleet Rental and Nottingham’s Charthire in November last year.
TOM bought the Radmode vehicle rental business in Yorkshire during 2013.
The acquisitions helped TOM achieve strong growth in the year to 31 March. Sales grew from £98.5 million to £143.1m.
The company said it has been enjoying strong month-on-month organic growth in the number of vehicles on hire.
TOM said it is constantly evaluating other deals in the rental sector and is well placed to pursue any opportunities which fit its target profile.
The acquisition of Solar Self Drive’s 200 vans and trucks will increase the size of TOM’s fleet to over 10,500 vehicles.
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