Quattro Group has confirmed the sale of AB2K to a management buyout, freeing both businesses to focus on their respective core industries.
Quattro is a rail plant specialist based in London. It took over Glasgow plant hire firm AB2000 in 2018 from founder Adam Bruce.聽
At that time, AB2000 turned over 拢23m and made 拢1m pre-tax profit from mobile crane and general plant hire. Latest accounts show turnover of 拢12m in the year to November 2023 for AB2K, as the company had been renamed, with a pre-tax loss of 拢2.4m.
Quattro Group managing director John Murphy said: 鈥淎B2K has been a valued part of the Quattro Group for the past six years. However, as our core focus on rail plant has increasingly diverged from AB2K鈥檚 construction plant operations, we recognised that it was the right time to part ways.
鈥淚n a mutually beneficial agreement, we have completed the successful sale of AB2K through a management buyout by Stuart Gardner and Mark Kirkwood, who will take the reins as joint managing directors in Scotland. Their deep sector knowledge and leadership experience make them ideally placed to guide AB2K through its next chapter.鈥�
He added: 鈥淨uattro Group remains incredibly proud of AB2K鈥檚 achievements and fully supports this transition. We wish Stuart and Mark every success as they return to their construction roots and break new ground with an independent company. We鈥檙e confident this move unlocks greater value for both businesses: allowing Quattro to continue making tracks in rail, while AB2K digs deeper into what it does best.鈥�
In a joint statement, new owners Stuart Gardner and Mark Kirkwood said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e greatly appreciated our time within the Quattro Group and everything we鈥檝e learned along the way, but now it鈥檚 time to get back to our roots. We鈥檇 like to sincerely thank John Murphy for his trust in us. He could have sold AB2K to anyone, but he chose to back us. We鈥檙e excited for the road ahead and to lead AB2K into an independent future, with a strong leadership team and a new vision, focused solely on construction plant hire.鈥�
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