Drives and Controls Magazine
Home
Menu

Wyko adds FPT to its distribution chain

01 April, 2002

Wyko adds FPT to its distribution chain

The Wyko Group has extended its distribution activities by buying FPT - formerly Fenner Power Transmission. The merger of the two operations will create a distribution business with a turnover of around £250m.

Wyko says it plans to build on the well-known Fenner brand and that most of FPT`s employees - numbering more than 400 - will not be affected by the acquisition.

However, Wyko does plan to close FPT`s warehousing and distribution centre in Blackburn, Lancashire, later this year with the loss of some jobs. Wyko says that it "will give priority to identifying alternative roles for affected employees elsewhere in the group" and will also help them to find alternative employment outside the group.

FTP was formed in 1998 to acquire Fenner`s power transmission business. Later that year it bought Kingswood Fluid Power, extending is activities in the hydraulics market. It now has a sales network of more than 50 locations in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, with combined sales worth around £50m.

FPT`s product range includes industrial belts, pulleys, chains, couplings, gearboxes, bearings, hydraulics, motors and controls. It has around 18,000 customers, none of which accounts for more than 3% of its business. The customers are drawn from a mixture of large industrial enterprises, smaller end-users, and OEMs.

Wyko, which is 40 years old this year, claims to be the UK`s largest supplier of industrial services with around 2,700 employees and a turnover of more than £200m. It has more than 140 distribution branches and more than 40 electromechanical and electronic repair workshops. It was bought by its present management in 1999 .