Buyer pays £145m for HSS
13 April 2012
TOOL HIRE company HSS has been bought for £145m by venture capitalists 3i despite a 90% collapse in profits this year.
HSS, founded in 1957 by West London market stallholder Bert Taylor, has been sold by Davis Service Group, which bought it a decade ago from construction group John Mowlem.
The venture capitalists have done the deal even though HSS's profits from its 500 stores are spiralling down in a soft DIY market and it has not been helped by a loss-making expansion into the US.
Operating profits in the first half of this year were just £800,000. Full-year profits fell 30% to £19 million in 2002.
