MOLINS PLC
SALE OF SANDIACRE ROSE FORGROVE
The Board of Molins PLC announced on 28th November that it has entered into a contract to sell its Sandiacre Rose Forgrove (SRF) business to Hayssen, a division of Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc. It is expected that the sale will be completed shortly before the end of the year.
Barry-Wehmiller is a major supplier of packaging machinery based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA with total sales of close to $800 million and over 4,000 employees, of whom 1,000 are outside the U.S. Their Hayssen business is one of the world’s largest suppliers of vertical form fill and seal bagging machines and is also based in the U.S., with a sales and service operation in the U.K. By absorbing SRF into the Hayssen/Barry-Wehmiller group both Molins and Barry-Wehmiller believe that greater economies of scale will be exploited and operational efficiencies achieved.
The combined Hayssen and Sandiacre Rose Forgrove businesses will trade throughout the world as HayssenSandiacre. In the U.K., the Hayssen sales and service operation will merge with Sandiacre Rose Forgrove to form HayssenSandiacre Europe, whilst in the U.S., the Sandiacre Rose Forgrove sales, service and parts operations will be absorbed into the existing Hayssen organisation.
Hayssen plans to retain and market both the Sandiacre and Hayssen brands of bagmakers in the U.S., Europe and throughout the world, and to continue to design, develop and build Sandiacre bagmakers in Nottingham. In addition, Hayssen sees good potential value in the Rose Forgrove brand name and intends to develop the Rose Forgrove market and products.