York sells off United Rentals
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• York Trailers has sold its trailer rental operation, United Rentals, to concentrate on European expansion — and Central Trailer Rentco has swooped to buy all 2,850 of United's trailers at the bargain price of £37.5m.
The deal includes £18m debts but CTR says the trailers are newer than those which came with the acquisition of Trailerent in May (CM 1016 May). At 22,000 each the trailers cost about the same unit price.
The eight United depots affected by the sale will become service centres for York Trailers. About 30 redundancies are expected, chiefly among sales and administrative staff at United Rentals.
York Traders is writing to United's former customers to explain that the leasing arrangements are now in the hands of CTR which will continue to service them as normal. Firms affected include Exel Logistics, several BRS companies. Robsons, Mansped and Intercity Transport.
York Trailers boss Jim Davies released what he calls a "mission statement" to explain the move: "Our strategy is to excel in trailer manufacture and components supply both here and overseas. With the divestment of United Rentals we can focus more sharply on our position as market leader in our chosen field, and by acquisition reach a position of pre-eminence in Europe by the mid-1990s."
The company was unable to provide more detail about its plans. "We are not able to show our hand just yet, but we have an eye on the French market," says a spokesman.
The deal was negotiated by Eric Goodwin, deputy chairman of Tiphook, CTR's parent company. Goodwin says 2,000 of the trailers are in the UK, with the other 850 in the Benelux countries, mainly Holland. "We could well utilise some of these to service our East German operation, which is going brilliantly," says Goodwin, adding that of 500 trailers targeted for the region (CM 12-18 July), 150 are now in position.
United Rentals ceased trading on 30 August, but the movement of its trailers into CTR's depots will be a gradual process, taking a number of weeks while outstanding contracts are honoured. CTR will absorb all the vehicles into its existing fleets, strengthening further its claims to have one third of all rented trailers in