S Walsh & Sons supplies construction and demolition waste recycling and haulage services to major projects across the capital including the Battersea Power Station redevelopment and the Thames Tideway tunnel. For the year ended 31st May 2017, its turnover was 拢43m and pre-tax profit was 拢4.3m.
The purchase price was not disclosed.
Walsh will continue to operate as a standalone business and directors Nick Walsh, Westley Pickup, Richard Walsh and Tim Wheeler will continue to operate the business day-to-day.
GRS describes itself as 鈥渢he largest construction materials trader in the UK鈥�. In 2016 it turned over 拢186.8m and made 拢7.8m in pre-tax profit.
GRS chief executive Jon Fisher described Walsh as 鈥榓 great fit鈥� for GRS. He said: 鈥淭he two businesses have worked together on many projects and in recent years we鈥檝e built a much closer working relationship. The Walsh team has a wealth of operational, commercial and technical expertise across a range of services to construction, waste and quarrying companies.
鈥淢ore important is that Walsh has a similar customer-led, can-do attitude as we have in GRS, so I鈥檓 confident we鈥檒l work well together. Acquiring Walsh expands the GRS portfolio with a market-leading range of joined-up services and sustainable solutions for the construction industry. It鈥檚 another example of putting our strategy into action to achieve our vision.鈥�
Walsh employs around 175 people across London and the southeast. The acquisition takes the total number of GRS employees beyond 800. The two businesses will operate more than 50 sites and are expected to handle more than 20 million tonnes of construction aggregate and other materials each year.
Nick Walsh said of the deal: 鈥淭his agreement is a win-win. We鈥檙e very proud of the reputation Walsh has built up over the years 鈥� that鈥檚 a testament to the brilliant team we have working for us. The decision to sell has not been taken lightly, but teaming up with a business as ambitious as GRS is a natural step to take the company on to the next stage in its development.鈥�
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