Manufacturing Sector

The South East has a proud reputation of being home to a large number of manufacturing businesses. The increase in skills and competitiveness demonstrated by low cost regions (“LCR”) (both Eastern Europe and the Far East) has led to the migration of manufacturing work away from the UK, particularly low margin work.

The UK’s manufacturing sector, particularly in the South East, has developed into a segment which can defend its higher margins due to the greater value added in the process, and the more specialised nature of the work. Proximity to the customer and greater control of lead times has also become increasingly important. Indeed, many UK based manufacturers have acquired LCR operations to give a best of both worlds offering to their customer base.

Meta has a good deal of experience in advising on manufacturing transactions, and on tackling the issues that are relevant. Competitive advantage is the key determinant of margin protection, growth and therefore value. The people issues are just as important as the plant.

 

Manufacturing Transaction Examples:

• MBO of Isuzu Truck (UK) Ltd.
• Acquisition of Halstead Boilers