Hays sells German spare parts network
Hays has continued its disposal strategy through the sale of its German automotive spare parts operations to a specially created new company, Night Plus. The new operation has been established by Thomas Mencwel who previously headed up Hays’ multi-user parts business. The network has 14 cross dock centres throughout Germany and annual revenues of around €34m. It provides a range of time sensitive products to automotive manufacturers, delivering spare parts to car dealerships and workshops in-night or before the start of the next working day.
Earlier in the year, Hays’ management undertook a strategic review which resulted in the decision to focus on its recruitment division. This initiated the sale of non-core businesses such as its document storage division, Hays IMS. However the disposal of its Logistics unit, the second largest division in the Group, has taken longer than was originally hoped, and a number of trade and financial bidders are believed to have dropped out along the way.
It now seems that the company is willing to see certain constituent parts of its logistics business sold off. In addition to its spare parts network in Germany, it recently sold a distribution centre in the Netherlands to an investment company for £8m (€11.7m). Although this approach will bring in a certain amount of revenue, some analysts believe it will erode the total amount which the company will get for the whole logistics division. This was originally estimated at between £250m-£350m (€350m-€490m). However it may well be that a potential buyer has decided that it only wants to purchase certain parts of the business (eg its consumer goods logistics operations) and Hays is disposing of those parts which aren’t required prior to the final sale.
