Business as usual is the message as one of Britain’s biggest tyre suppliers Kwik-Fit announce they have sold the business to Japanese company “Itochu Corporation”.
Not exactly a household name, but Itochu is one of the leading Japanese Trading Corporations with interests ranging from textiles and machinery to aerospace, electronics and energy and probably unknown to you, are already fitting tyres to our cars and vans as owner of “Stapleton’s Tyre Services” which has over 100 branches in the UK along with a substantial tyre wholesaling operation.
The sale of Kwik-Fit has been valued at £637 million but needs to gain approval from the European Competition Authorities and completion of a consultation process with the French Works Council, but never the less, with the cash on the table its pretty sure the deal is going through.
Kwik-Fit has bases in 74 countries and produces revenues of more than £25bn a year and here in the UK, its High Street locations have grown considerably over the years. One of Kwik-Fit’s major areas of business in the UK is with company car fleets and contract hire and leasing companies such as ourselves and Kwik-Fit are keen to put the message out that customers wont notice any difference over this transitional period and that in fact with the financial strength of its new owners, the company is well positioned to grow even further.
