Guest Trucks buys fellow Iveco dealer Sherwood

West Bromwich-based Iveco dealer Guest Trucks has bought fellow dealer Sherwood Truck & Van for an undisclosed sum, 18 months after purchasing TC Harrison.

The deal adds Sherwood's main sites in Alfreton, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Stoke-on-Trent, and three authorised repairers in Swadlincote, Newark and Doncaster to the Guest Group.

Guest Trucks now covers the entire Midlands, east to Peterborough, north to South Yorkshire and west to Telford. Combined turnover for the Guest Group is now £110m with the additional £35m from the Sherwood operation. Employee numbers jump from 280 to 450.

Robert Spittle, MD of truck operations for the family-owned Guest Group, will expand his role to both dealerships. "Sherwood Truck & Van is a highly capable and respected dealer, with a strong customer base," he says. "It will form a key part of the Guest Group and allow our customers to benefit from the natural synergies of working with one of the industry's largest and most professional dealer groups."

Sherwood proprietor Terry Waterfall and director Paul Hemp will both retire, and Sherwood Truck & Van's MD Helen Waterfall joins as a regional director responsible for the Sherwood group.

Both Guest Trucks and Sherwood Truck & Van enter a 90-day consultation period to find the best way to take the business forward, adds Spittle.

The purchase makes it the biggest Iveco dealership in the UK and one of the top five dealer networks with the likes of Scania dealer Keltruck, multi-franchise business Imperial Commercials, and Ballyvesey, which owns Intercounty, HTC Group and West Pennine Trucks.