It is not surprising that the international group is interested in Certex. In the last three years, the owners had grown Certex’s annual turnover from £12.5m to over £18m, with the number of employees rising from 154 to 185.

Those owner-directors were persuaded that the commercial advantages of joining up with the international company would result in the opportunity to source new products and suppliers using Forankra’s increased purchasing power, the possibility of integrated IT systems giving stock visibility across Europe, access to funding to accelerate Certex UK’s acquisition strategy, and a stronger international offshore presence.

The announcement coincides with Certex UK’s move into new purpose built headquarters at Harworth, Nottinghamshire. The 49,000 sq.ft site houses a new head office (relocated from Doncaster), a central warehouse and modern production facilities.

More than £400,000 has been invested in new manufacturing and testing equipment including two new 10 ton overhead travelling cranes to allow the handling of larger pieces. Seven of the company's regional lifting centres have been moved into new premises while a further £200,000 has been spent on a fleet of new service vehicles.

A further nine Certex companies are currently owned by Forankra, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Germany.