Workwear Express, based in Durham, UK, is a leading business in personalised workwear and promotional clothing with a strong e-commerce focus. The business serves a broad range of customers and in the year to March 2021 generated £29m in revenue. Bunzl completed the acquisition of Workwear Express towards the end of October.
Early in November, Bunzl also completed the acquisition of Hydropac, a distributor of insulated packaging solutions based in Buckinghamshire, UK. The business, which is complementary to Bunzl’s Coolpack business in the Netherlands, generated £7m of revenue in 2020 and is focused on the growing online food delivery market.
The Hydropac deal was led by the Birmingham corporate finance team at PFK Smith Cooper.
Chilled and frozen packaging solutions
Hydropac designs and manufactures insulated packaging solutions that focus on maintaining chilled and frozen temperatures of food, pet-food, and pharmaceutical products during transit, according to PFK. It works with customers to design gel packs that maintain the thermal and visual integrity of products, all the way through mainstream delivery networks to the consumers doorstep.
The temperature-controlled solutions’ manufacturer, located in High Wycombe, currently designs and produces insulated shipping systems, ice packs, and gel packs for the growing online food delivery market, with a remarkable 99% of their products being recyclable. In 2020, they produced a UK-market-leading 30 million ice packs, demonstrating their continued strength in the sector.
“Today’s announcement further highlights the continued success of our compounding strategy," said Frank van Zanten, chief executive officer of Bunzl.
'One of most acquisitive years in our history'
"The acquisitions of Workwear Express and Hydropac represent our 12th and 13th acquisitions this year, with our committed spend year to date higher than our spend in 2020, making it another successful year and one of the most acquisitive years in our history.
The acquisitions demonstrate the opportunities for growth in digital channels, with Workwear Express a strong online driven business and Hydropac a specialist in packaging products that support online focused customers.”
