President and COO Andrew Rourke, explaining that Noble had suffered in recent years from a succession of changes of ownership, told Cranes Today, “We see Noble as a very strong brand, with a strong legacy and strong attributes. We will continue to invest in the brand and to offer support. We intend to strengthen the Noble identity. We intend to integrate the manufacturing side into our existing businesses, to leverage our manufacturing capacity. We want to return Noble to its former glory.”
Veri-Tek International chairman and CEO David Langevin said, “Noble has a reputation for providing durable, innovative and high quality products, and as a result, the Noble product has benefited from very strong distribution, and has a large installed base giving rise to a healthy after-market parts business. Moreover, this acquisition will benefit from our current operating manufacturing base and adds breadth to our existing Liftking rough terrain forklift product line without increasing our existing facilities or manpower. Our sales and marketing team is excited about the opportunity to offer an expanded high quality rough terrain product line to our customers, while also gaining access for all our products to Noble’s established dealer network.”
Rourke added, “We believe that Noble is an excellent strategic fit for us and that the Noble business will be accretive to our annual operating earnings beginning with the current year. Noble is a time-tested, valuable brand with a loyal customer base. The Noble business has historically generated operating margins similar to those of our Liftking subsidiary on sales volumes of about $20 million, but in recent times, as a result of changing facilities and ownership, this company has not kept up with the demand for its products. However, it has retained its most valuable assets, its distribution and reputation for quality products. We believe that we are uniquely positioned to, in a reasonable time, restore this business to its historic performance and thereby enhance Veri-Tek’s performance overall.”
Under the deal, Veri-Tek released GT Distribution from $4.2m of debt, from a limited number of historic transactions.
