Posed by their latest acquisition, UK Hire Group CEO Adam Hems and JPS Platforms MD John Young. HIGH CLIMBERS It’s not unusual for hire businesses to change hands or merge into larger
organistions. Such was the case for JPS Hire, now under the stewardship of new owners the UK Hire Group.
J
PS was originally a supplier of aluminium tower installations, but saw an
opportunity to move into the powered access sector. Nationwide Platforms alumnus John Young was brought in to run this side of the business, which then succeeded to the extent that the company was split into two divisions – JPS Group Services Ltd and JPS Platforms Ltd. Having since been acquired by UK Hire Group, the senior team has grown, the website has relaunched, internal procedures have been upgraded, the portfolio has expanded and the company has just bought its biggest ever scissor lift. There’s plainly a lot to get through, so UK Hire Group CEO Adam Hems brings us up to speed:
“UK Hire Group is myself, CFO Lee Simpson, Chairman Kenneth Andrew and non-exec Director Neil O’Brien – John Young runs the platform side of the business and Shane Walker was headhunted to look after the Group Services division. My background is in engineering and IT, but my father ran a plant sales company and I was surrounded by a lot of such equipment growing up. I was always keen to get back to something more
in line with the family business, but also because I could see a lot of exciting developments in the hire industry.”
JPS is the first acquisition for UK Hire Group. How did you find them and what was it you liked about the company?
“We had been looking for the right opportunity for two years. Our intention was to find a business that we could scale, as well as introduce new product lines. The Hire Exchange made the initial introduction and the purchase was completed last August.
“The platforms business was certainly an important factor for us – John Young has built the fleet up from scratch and it is now touching 800 units. JPS had also shown growth of 20-25 percent every year since inception, and we intend to continue this growth going forward.”
That’s an ambitious target. Where do you think this growth will come from?
“Much of the growth is coming from platforms at the moment – new accounts are
opening up every week. For Group Services, the growth will come from new products, such as lighting, power generation and welfare cabins.”
“It all comes back to what attracted us to the company,” adds Lee. “We have a young and over 70 percent electrified fleet, which is a metric that we are aiming to maintain. We are also well located, with around 20 percent of the UK population living in the South-East. We also reach into the Midlands and East Anglia.”
Group Services offers a broad selection of hire equipment, but there is renewed focus and some unique equipment here. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
“Welfare cabins will become a main product line. It fits within the Group Services division, but it will be traded as JPS Cabins once we have scaled the fleet up to size that we want,” says Adam. “We have taken our first cabin deliveries from AJC, and we have more cabins arriving every month through 2023 – all to the same high specification. They feature upgraded solar panels, with
28 Executive Hire News - May 2023
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