“We are a manufacturer but we also have a strong rental fleet,” said Mantis general manager Robert Rowlette.
The company runs a fleet of 120 self-erectors in Northern and Southern Ireland, and 50 in England through a wholly-owned subsidiary based in Durham. It also has a trading relationship with (but no stake in) Cornwall-based CJ Trading, but this new deal will see the company gain a foothold in southeast England.
R&B is based in Cambridge and has about 25 self-erectors. R&B will become a Mantis dealer, but will not sell, or buy, only Mantis cranes. “We have a varied fleet,” said chairman Harry Rose. “We shall continue dealing with Potain as well as Mantis.”
It has been a busy year for the Donegal, Northern Ireland-based manufacturer.
Rowlette says that the Irish housing market is cooling, but cooling from “unhealthy” heights. “There probably will have been 100,000 housing units – houses and flats – built last year [2006]. The natural demand is about 50-55,000. We will do about 65-70,000 this year. We think that next year the figure might be in the high 40s. We would be happy if it were 55,000-60,000.
“The market has gotten overheated. Interest rates have gone up and up – we have had three quarter-point interest rises in the last 12 months.
“We just received the annual budget yesterday and there were changes announced in stamp duty that are beneficial to home-buyers and should reignite interest. The main banks seem to have not been exposed to the sub-prime mortgage rate crisis,” Rowlette said.
