Insider Media Limited

Travis Perkins, the Northampton-based builders’ merchant has announced it will sell its tools, maintenance and health and safety business Buck & Hickman to industrial components supplier Brammer for £27.6m.

Brammer said it planned to fund the majority of the cost through a £25m share placing.

Buck & Hickman, which distributes industrial products, came into Travis Perkins' ownership when it bought out the BSS Group in December 2010. However, bosses at Travis Perkins told the stock exchange that the Coventry-based business "could be better developed under an owner with a more specialist knowledge of the sector within which it trades".

The management and staff of Buck & Hickman will transfer with the business.

Buck & Hickman was founded in the 1830s and supplies more than 60,000 branded and own-brand industrial and maintenance products. Almost 14,000 of its products are sold under its 'Roebuck' brand.

The business also operates 28 branches nationwide, has a national distribution centre in Coventry and a fleet of 90 vehicles. In the year to March 31, it generated revenues of £94.8m, up from £80.7m in the previous 12 months, and adjusted underlying pre-tax earnings of £1.9m, up from £170,000.

Ian Fraser, chief executive of Brammer, said: "Buck & Hickman is an excellent strategic acquisition for the group, providing us with the opportunity to enhance our position significantly in the approximate £2.2bn UK tools and general maintenance MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) market.

"It will also increase our critical mass and generate additional value from cross-selling initiatives in the larger European market place, which is hugely fragmented, and which we estimate to be worth at least €10bn per annum.

"We look forward to working alongside Buck & Hickman's highly experienced and knowledgeable team. I am confident that together we can drive the business forward and that Brammer will be a stronger group as a result."