Independent’s day

Glug, glug, what’s that noise? It’s the sound of yet more independent SMEs being swallowed up by much larger fishes in a sea of global mergers and acquisitions.

Since I’ve been editor, TenCate has taken over Amber Composites, Senior has secured Atlas Composites, Acorn Growth Companies has squirrelled away Tods, Gazechim has gobbled Mouldlife, Meggitt has snaffled Cobham and EDAC, Solvay has subsumed Cytec and Hexcel has assimilated Formax.

Clearly, recent trends in the UK indicate an appetite for acquisitions that shows no signs of reducing. Larger corporates continue to comb the market; good news for the targeted small fish, especially those with something unique to offer - and good news for big fish looking to plug the obvious gaps in their services.

In terms of key drivers, it would appear we’re returning to the one-stop shop philosophy of doing business. Wasn’t this how UK manufacturing used to work back in the day? This whole ethos also embodies the term GLOCAL, a portmanteau of ‘global’ and ‘local’ with which the corporates can obtain global reach through their many locally-based, specialised acquisitions.

Whilst I do appreciate the increased financial muscle an independent SME can now attain through its financially stronger parent company (Hello OEM customer, maybe you’ll consider working with us now), I feel a profound loss for the many once proud Great British independents that followed their dreams.

Perhaps I’m looking at this through rose-tinted carbon fibre spectacles, but how does this affect smaller customers, the Fred’s in the shed’s that enjoy the one-to-one personal touch rather than listening to an automated answerphone message?

As always, there will be winners and losers in this process and if you’re looking to sell take the money and run. It all comes down to a choice of suppliers as we must never forget that ‘choice’ is what the customer always wants.

Mike Richardson, editor