The suggestion that the UK tyre distribution space is ripe for consolidation is not new. But during the single week that we went to press with the latest edition at the start of October, three big tyre retail announcements were made. First Stop broke through the 150-branch barrier. Point S announced that its buying group of independent tyre retailers now numbers 300. And Halfords bought Lodge Tyres for just over £37 million.
Following the news that Halfords has bought Lodge Tyres, company representatives shared their excitement in relation to the move. ”We are excited to announce that Lodge Tyre have now joined the Halfords Group”, a social media post stated.
Halfords Group plc has made a further tyre sector acquisition with its purchase of LTC Trading Holdings Limited and subsidiary Lodge Tyre Company for £37.2 million. The addition of Lodge Tyre’s 50 garages and 248 mobile vans takes the Halfords garage services business to 656 garages, 253 consumer vans, 440 commercial vans and nine warehouses.
Investors in People has awarded Lodge Tyre Company Ltd with its investors in people gold accreditation. Gold accreditation means the company has the policies in place and that everyone – from the directors to apprentices – takes ownership for them taking place. Only 17 per cent of accredited organisations achieve the gold standard.
Following the news that Goodyear has retained the UK police fleet tyre contract, Tyres & Accessories contacted Crown Commercial Services in order to confirm which other tyre firms have succeeded in winning their part of the two government tyre supply contracts which together are worth an estimated £200 million.
Following Halfords’ recent acquisitions of Universal Tyres and McConnechy’s before that, many have speculated regarding what the future holds for Lodge Tyres. Rumours aside, the short story is that Lodge Tyres had a good 2020 despite the obvious Covid-19-related adversity and is set for further growth in 2021. Tyres & Accessories met with Lodge Tyres managing director Andy Christmas and commercial director Martin O’Brien in order to get the latest details straight from Lodge Tyres’ management.
Ask anyone involved in tyre industry training and they will say two things. Firstly, there is a growing need to develop a sustainable career path in the technical end of the tyre business. And secondly, that structured training needs to move with the times. The good news is that, after months and years of hard work by key industry figures, there is now an appropriate answer to both questions. So, with this in mind, in mid-November Tyres & Accessories visited the first cohort of trailblazer Licence Commercial Tyre Technician (LCCT) training, which incorporates an accredited apprenticeship standard and the NTDA’s REACT licence.
Outside of the top five, there is a certain degree of stability amongst the remaining five companies. Those in sixth, seventh and eighth position (McConechy’s, The Tyre Group and Lodge) appear to have remained stable in terms of branch count, with 61, 58 and 40 branches respectively. However, it is worth considering all this in the context of ULM Services Ltd the fleet-orientated cooperation Universal, Lodge and McConechy’s set up during 2017. Put those three partners together and we have 119 branches and another strong contender for fifth position on the table.
The NTDA Roadside Emergency Action Concerning Technicians (REACT) scheme hit a new milestone on Tuesday 18 September when Commercial Tyre Technician Keiran Smith of Lodge Tyre Company in Stafford received the 5000th certificate and Licence to Work Safely at the Roadside at Lodge House, the company’s impressive corporate headquarters in Stafford.
Smith, who is from Worcester and works at Lodge Tyre’s Droitwich depot on Berryhill Industrial Estate, was trained by Roadside Safety Training UK Ltd one of the founding members of the REACT scheme.
Following an extensive period of negotiations with Lodge Tyres, Bridgestone has agreed to sell its share capital in Kingsway Tyres. Lodge has completed the acquisition of the Kingsway retail business, which operates from 15 depots, predominantly in the east of England. Indeed the Kingsway website already features Lodge Group branding and refers to 16 depots, suggesting some degree of reorganising and/or re-branding has already taken place.
Blaby District Council in Leicestershire has switched to a Michelin tyre policy across its commercial vehicle fleet following a year-long trial on a set of Michelin X Works tyres. Most of the council’s fleet, which includes a mix of 18 Mercedes-Benz and Dennis refuse collection vehicles (RCVs), a 12.5 tonne road sweeper, two 5.2 tonne Iveco Dailys and a single 7.5 tonne DAF 45, plus 30 light commercial vehicles, now runs on Michelin products. All tyre servicing will be carried out by local dealership Lodge Tyres’ Leicester branch. The council is also specifying the tyres as original equipment.
Lodge Tyres is using an extension of its Cameo platform to manage retrospective manufacturer rebate process, which can be valued at thousands of pounds, eliminating all administration.
Lodge Tyres
Ahisgett; Flickr; CC-BY-2.0
Tyre Industry Publications Ltd