Takeover creates UK`s largest power resistor player

TPR Resistors has bought its former rival, Cressall Resistors, to create what it claims will be the largest player in the UK industrial and power resistor market. The takeover is part of a larger deal in which TPR`s parent, the Italian firm Telema, has bought five power resistor businesses from Cressall`s former owner, Halma, for around £13.5m. The other businesses are located in North America.

The combined UK operation brings together TPR`s 15 employees with about 50 from Cressall. The business, which will probably use the Cressall name, is expected to generate sales worth around £5.5m this year. About 30% of this revenue will come from exports.

Peter Duncan, TPR`s managing director, has been appointed deputy managing director of Cressall, with David Boughey remaining as MD.

The combined business is likely to keep the existing TPR site in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, as well as Cressall`s recently expanded headquarters in Leicester. Duncan reports that there is plenty of work to keep the sites busy: "We`ve got larger order books than we`ve ever had," he says.

"Customers will hardly notice the transition," Duncan adds. "The only changes for both sets of customers are that there will be more people within the new organisation to help with enquiries and they will now be presented with a much wider range of technologies and design options."

The merger will also pool the two companies` skilled engineers, creating a much stronger r&d department, according to Duncan.

One factor driving sales in recent years has been the demand for braking resistors. "There`s been a huge growth in the sales of brake resistors with the take-up of inverter drives," Duncan says. "It`s a good growth market."

Cressall was founded in Birmingham in 1912 and joined Halma in 1989. In 1993, it acquired GEC Alsthom`s resistor business, followed in 1999 by Eaton Cutler Hammer`s resistor divisions. Halma now wants to focus on activities that deliver higher rates of return and more attractive growth prospects than the resistor companies that were part of its industrial safety portfolio.