Bevan Specialist Products is a hot tip for the top

New business Bevan Specialist Products is now trading from the factory in Stone, Staffordshire, occupied previously by Stag Bodies. Bevan has taken on all 18 of the former company’s employees – they were turning out in the region of 500 vehicles a year, but having already won several orders the new owner now plans quickly to step-up production. 

The deal – the value of which is not being disclosed – adds yet another string to the Bevan bow. Best-known as a long-established builder of dry freight box, curtainside and dropside bodies for some of the biggest names on Britain’s roads, over the last five years it has expanded into several new areas of operation.

The launch of Bevan Specialist Products means the Bevan Group sales team can now offer steel and alloy tipping bodies for vehicles ranging in size from 3.5 to 32 tonnes gvw.

Bevan Specialist Products also manufactures traffic management bodies and dropsiders, including high-sided units for arboreal work and other, specialised versions. The parent company was already building dropsiders in substantial numbers for high-profile operators such as Jewson at its main production facility in Halesowen, but the acquisition provides useful additional capacity and flexibility to meet customer demand.

"This very exciting development takes us into a completely new market segment, and represents a perfect ‘fit’ for our business,” declared Bevan Group Managing Director Anthony Bevan. 

"As well as giving us the opportunity to approach operators we have never worked with before, it allows us to offer an extended range of bodies and services to a number of established customers with which we already enjoy excellent relationships.”

Chris Wilkes has transferred from his previous senior role at Bevan’s Oldbury operation, to take the helm as General Manager at Bevan Specialist Products. "Stag Bodies had a good name in the industry for the quality and durability of its products, and I’m confident this acquisition will prove to have been a wise investment for the Group,” he said. 

"With Bevan’s financial muscle, and sales and marketing expertise behind it, there’s every reason for Bevan Specialist Products to look forward to a period of rapid growth.”

Sales Engineering Manager Tony Tunnicliffe had been employed by the former company for three years. "But I’ve been in the trade for a lot longer and have worked in the past for various companies that have dealt with Bevan.

"We now have a dynamic and highly respected new owner, and I know that all of my colleagues share my view that this is the best thing that could have happened. Bevan are looking to build up the business for the future, and we all want to be a part of that.”

The launch of Bevan Specialist Products follows the Bevan Group’s acquisition in 2010 of PG Reeves, a specialist manufacturer of vehicle bodies for the drinks industry, and in 2014 of Supertrucks, a builder of glass carrying transport systems.

Meanwhile, Bevan has entered strategic partnerships with crane manufacturer HMF in 2010, and in 2013 with Schmitz Cargobull, a move that took it into the temperature-controlled vehicle sector for the first time. Also in 2013, Bevan acquired a shareholding in leading accident repair and refurbishment specialist A&R Vehicle Services with a view, ultimately, to purchasing the entire business.

Within the same five-year period Bevan has introduced a highly successful Graphics operation, and invested heavily in the expansion of its Aftercare division, which last year signed another partnership deal with market-leading tail-lift manufacturer DEL.