Ardenton Capital Corporation has offered a significant investment to one of the UK’s leading providers of strategic manufacturing outsourcing solutions, PP Control & Automation. With Ardenton now owning a majority stake in the organisation, the deal is expected to take the business to £40 million within five years.
Tony Hague, the current managing director, has become a significant shareholder in the business as part of the deal and is now expected to become chief executive officer. Meanwhile, founder David Fox will continue to impart his more than 40-years of industry experience in the role of chairman.
The funding follows PP Control & Automation’s announcement of securing new contracts, which is expected to take its turnover for the coming year to £24 million, including first orders for Hedinn in Iceland and new projects for customers in digital printing and the scientific industries.
“We recognised over 12 months ago that if we were to realise our aspirations of truly growing PP in the way we believed possible, we would need a new business partner to work with,” said Tony Hague. “Sales have increased nearly 30% in the last two years, but to take us to £40m and beyond we needed to partner with a long-term investor to really accelerate the growth. There were many organisations keen to invest in PP.”
A Canadian-headquartered private corporate investor, Ardenton opened its UK office in Manchester in 2016, making its first investment into Corbetts the Galvanizers in the West Midlands the following year.
In September 2017 PP Control & Automation celebrated its 50th anniversary, marking the occasion by securing £2 million of new contracts. Over the years, it has grown into one of the world’s largest and most respected suppliers of electrical control systems and sub-contract manufacturing solutions to customers involved in the machine tools, packaging, printing, medical, pharma, scientific and food processing sectors.
