A Co Westmeath window manufacturing and installation business, which was started in a back garden shed in 1970, has been sold at a price that values it at approximately €10 million.
Heiton Group has bought 55 per cent of Wright Windows Systems, of Milltownpass, Co Westmeath, for €5.45 million. The remaining shares in the company are the subject of a put-and-call option agreement. The agreement is exercisable in equal instalments over the next two years at 5.25 times the preceding year's profits before tax, subject to floor and cap values.
The deal is likely to price the company at approximately €10 million. According to its latest annual report in the Companies Registration Office, the shares in the company are owned, by way of Leo Wright Holdings Ltd, by: Mr Frank Wright (50), Mullingar, Co Westmeath; Mrs Rose Wright (61); and her husband, Mr Leo Wright (59), both of Milltownpass, Gornamona, Co Westmeath.
The company employs 170 people in Milltownpass, having grown over the years from humble beginnings in a shed at the back of Mr and Mrs Wright's home.
The business started out as a timber windows business for houses and apartments. In the 1980s it started to supply PVC windows and, more recently, aluminium windows primarily for the commercial sector.
The company is now unique in that it supplies a mix of wood, PVC and aluminium, new and replacement windows to the residential and commercial sectors, including office blocks and public buildings such as schools.
Up to a number of years ago, the managing director was founder Mr Leo Wright. In recent years this role has been taken over by his wife, Mrs Rose Wright. Mr Leo Wright's brother, Mr Frank Wright, is sales director and is to remain in that position.
The three will remain on the company's board following the acquisition. Mr Paul Lynch, corporate development director with Heiton, is to assume responsibility for the business and will succeed Mrs Wright upon her retirement as managing director following a post-acquisition transition period.
Mrs Wright said she expected "significant advantage to the prosperity and success of both companies" from the deal. The development "will open further windows of opportunity for our staff and customers and the community in which we live", she said.
Heiton intends to use its sales reach to increase the sales of windows by the Co Westmeath firm. It does not intend to introduce any significant changes in the Co Westmeath company other than to continue steady growth, according to Mr Lynch.
The Wright company's audited turnover has grown from €6 million in 1994 to €21.5 million in the year to December 31st, 2001, when it recorded profits before tax of €2 million. The audited net assets of the company as of end-December 2001 were €6.6 million.
Heiton, as with most distributors of materials to the construction sector, does not sell windows "off the shelf". The acquisition is part of the company's strategy of "expansion in the Irish market towards becoming a full-solutions provider to the construction sector", said Mr Leo Martin, Heiton group chief executive.
