RE: Strange Spike21 Feb 2022 13:28
Avingtrans finds troubled engineering firms, buys them at a cut-price rate, turns them round and sells them at a profit.
The shares are £4 each and should increase in value as Avingtrans management is highly experienced and has delivered more than a decade of robust returns and dividend growth.
Some businesses are kept for years. Some are sold relatively quickly. Many are bundled together to create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts.
Metalcraft, for instance, originally focused on the medical and scientific markets but merged with another firm in 2013 and has since become one of the leading providers of nuclear waste containers.
Avingtrans has many other businesses in its stable. Booth Industries makes exceptionally durable doors for use in high-pressure environments, including HS2 tunnels, where doors will need to stay firm as trains rattle past at 225mph.
Bolton-based Booth was on the brink of collapse when Avingtrans acquired the firm for £1.8million in 2019. Today, Booth is profitable and will probably be sold for a significant sum in the next year or so.
Avingtrans also rescued Hayward Tyler, an AIM business that fell into difficulties. Acquired in 2017, the firm is now in rude health, supplying pumps and motors for use in tough environments, such as offshore oil rigs, solar power plants and chemical processing sites.
Avingtrans chief executive Steve McQuillan, an engineer by background, has been at the helm since 2008. Finance director Stephen King, another qualified engineer, has worked at the firm for even longer, joining in 2002.
Over the years, the two have bought and sold dozens of businesses, always centred on complex engineering products that are hard to replicate and are in demand year in, year out.