AMES, established in 1774, has a group turnover exceeding $550million and owns market leading brands in USA, Canada and Australasia. They operate in ten distinct product categories all focussed on home garden consumers and manufacture their product in dedicated facilities in USA, Canada, China and Australia.

Having identified UK and Ireland as a strategic development opportunity, they recently acquired La Hacienda and Kelkay in the UK to add to their existing True Temper business in Dublin.

Simon Hupfeld, CEO AMES says, “The market opportunity in the UK and Ireland has been a focus for us for some time and we wanted to make sure we made the right acquisitions to give us a strong platform for future growth. Kelkay and La Hacienda are both strong, successful businesses and bringing them together under the global organisation of AMES brings further opportunities.”

AMES plans to continue their expansion in the UK and Ireland with launches into new product categories where they already have global expertise and manufacturing strengths. Nor are they ruling out further acquisitions in the UK to help them reach their goals.

Simon explains, “The AMES vision is to be the first and best choice – for our customers and our employees as well as suppliers, shareholders and the wider community. I really believe that our plans for the UK will bring further opportunity, especially for retail customers, who will benefit from access to our growing range of products as we expand into new categories.”

AMES already operates globally in hand tools, garden tools, wheelbarrows, hoses & watering equipment, pots & containers and now can add fire pits and outdoor heating, water features, paving and aggregates to the portfolio.

Antony Harker, Managing Director AMES UK is driving the UK and Ireland strategy which is designed to capitalise on the cooperative efforts of the three local group businesses and introduce the enormous opportunities from the buying strengths and category experience of the global AMES group.

He commented, “It’s a time of great opportunity for the business, customers and our employees. The global strength of AMES, their significant buying power and their product design and development experience will benefit the whole UK market. You can expect to see the first signs of this in the next few weeks as we reveal our plans for 2019.”

For more information on The AMES Companies go to http://global.ames.com

To find out more about Kelkay  go to www.kelkay.com or e-mail the general enquiries office on salesenquiries@kelkay.co.uk or call to speak to us on 01405 869333

Kelkay The Old Airfield, Heck & Pollington Lane, Pollington, East Yorkshire, DN14 0BA

To find out more about La Hacienda go to www.lahacienda.co.uk or call to speak to us on 01285 762060

La Hacienda Ltd., Hangar 27, Site C, Aston Down Airfield, Stroud, GL6 8HR