U.K.’s One Stop Hire Acquires Northeast England’s Lord Hire Centres
One Stop Hire, one of the United Kingdom’s largest independent equipment rental companies, mostly doing business in the northwest of England, has expanded with the acquisition of Lord Hire Centres. Lord, which became available for sale because of the retirement of owner Chris Rowley, son-in-law of the founder Reginald Lord, will continue to do business under its own name although it will integrate with One Stop Hire’s operating systems, and likely re-brand down the road.
Lord Hire Centres, which earlier this year celebrated its 50th anniversary, is based in Manchester and primarily does business in the northeast of England, where One Stop Hire, based in Chorley in the country’s northwest, had wanted to expand into. One Stop Hire now has 25 branches.
One Stop Hire company was set up in 2003 by the husband-and-wife team of Steve and Danielle Hitchen, who previously worked together at Ainscough Crane Hire (Martin Ainscough is her father). Since then, the company has continued to grow and with the acquisition of Lord Hire makes it the largest independent hire company in the U.K., the company says.
“When the opportunity to buy Lord Hire came along it was perfect timing as we were looking at the North East as an area to move into due to customer demand,” Steve Hitchen said. “The opportunity to get such a long-established business, with what is a perfect network of branches in the region, was compelling. It became obvious that the business was very much aligned with OSH in terms of the family-owned and family-run culture. They have very experienced and dedicated staff whose customer focus replicates our own, so we are delighted to welcome them into our family.”
