Glazerite aims for £30million with City Beads acquisition
2nd February 2016

Glazerite, the UK’s biggest Veka fabricator, has acquired the entire share capital of Trade Frame Holdings Limited, owner of Peterborough-based Halo fabricator City Beads Ltd.

The addition of the £4million sales, 450 frames per week company will take the group’s turnover to £28million with a declared investment plan to grow City Beads by another 50% in 12 - 18 months.

City Beads manufactures from Halo’s Rustique and System 10 PVC-U systems – both from The Veka UK Group, a factor which Glazerite says was key to the acquisition. These products will complement the ranges already offered by Glazerite, including vertical sliding and fully reversible windows, bi-folds, Residence 9 flush sash windows and composite doors from Solidor and Doorco.

Other significant factors in the acquisition, says Glazerite, include the company’s Peterborough location, its 33-year longevity, a long-standing team and an established customer base.

The acquired company will operate as Glazerite (East) Ltd under the new holding company called The Glazerite UK Group Ltd, with John Hewitt as Chairman, Jason Thompson as Managing Director, Mike Johnson as Finance Director and Ian Lloyd as Operations Director. Also included in the new structure will be Glazerite Windows Ltd; Glazerite (Northwest) Ltd; and Glazerite (Southwest) Ltd. Each company will be headed by its own board of directors formed from within each division as well as external appointments.

The infrastructure will include the installation of Glazerite’s in house software system, with full bar coding throughout production and transparency across the business; and the implementation of enhanced tools designed to improve reporting and efficiency.

Combined output of The Glazerite UK Group Ltd is now in excess of 3,500 frames per week; this will increase to more than 3,800 frames following completion of the investment in systems and machinery. The group says forecast sales in excess of £28 million for 2016 will make it one of the largest independently owned companies in the industry.

Group Chairman John Hewitt said of the acquisition: “The purchase of Trade Frame Holdings Ltd and City Beads Ltd became a natural and obvious move and I would like to thank Will Nicholl, former owner of the company, for his cooperation and support throughout the negotiations. Will intends to continue to run his Tradeframe.com operation in Peterborough, Cheltenham, Hertfordshire & Swindon and will become a customer of Glazerite (East) Ltd. The focus of all operations will be significantly improved as a result.

“Additionally Glazerite customers will now enjoy the choice of a huge range of products, with The Glazerite UK Group the largest supplier of Veka Group products by a significant margin. This brings benefits of efficiency, expertise and scale. The relationships with Veka and other our market leading suppliers has been a cornerstone of our success over more than 16 years and this will continue.

“This is the most exciting and positive time for everyone involved with and in The Glazerite UK Group and we welcome our new colleagues and customers to the Glazerite family”

Will Nicholl replied: “We had interest from a number of potential purchasers but I saw Glazerite as the perfect choice to take the company forward. My skills and passion are in retail and I can now concentrate on developing Tradeframe.com knowing that I have an excellent supplier and that the City Beads team – to whom I remain incredibly grateful and loyal – will prosper through Glazerite’s enormous strengths in manufacturing. It’s an excellent outcome.”