Fox Brothers said that the acquisition of JJ O’Grady, based in Lostock Hall, south of Preston, would enable it to offer customers a more complete offering.
Established in 1932, Fox specialises in the supply and haulage of aggregates, recycled materials, muck-shift, earthworks and civil engineering projects.
JJ O’Grady Limited, in business since 2006, specialises in utilities and highways maintenance works, including street lighting. Its client base includes local authorities, housing developers and civil engineering contractors. It has seven employees and fixed assets of £518,000.
Under the terms of the deal JJ O’Grady Limited will continue to trade under its own name and operate from its base in Lostock Lane, Lostock Hall. Founder Seamus O’Grady will stay in the business.
JJ O’Grady is Fox’s second acquisition of the past year. In September 2020 it took over Clive Hurt (Plant Hire) Limited, based in Leyland. That deal doubled the size of the Fox business, to annual turnover approaching £50m, and created a combined fleet of 180 wagons and more than 400 items of plant and machinery. [See our previous report here.]
Of the JJ O’Grady purchase, Fox director John Flood said: “The acquisition makes perfect strategic sense for our business as JJ O’Grady Limited adds a number of different services and different customers, including local authorities. It has an excellent reputation, and we believe it has a great deal of potential to grow. That’s our aim, to want to continue to build and grow the business by taking advantage of synergies across the wider Fox Group.
“We will be able to offer clients a more complete solution from site preparation through to highways and street maintenance. Our focus is on providing a single source solution for local authorities, housebuilders, infrastructure, construction and civils contractors.”
He added: “We will continue to look for other opportunities to expand our services.”
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