Bevan Group expands into Stag’s territory

West Midlands bodybuilder Bevan Group has entered the tipper and traffic management vehicle market with the acquisition of Staffordshire specialist Stag Bodies.

Newly-formed Bevan Specialist Products is now trading from the former Stag Bodies factory in Stone, Staffordshire. Bevan has taken on all 18 of the former company’s employees – they were turning out in the region of 500 vehicles a year, but having already won several orders the new owner now plans to step-up production quickly.

Best-known as a long-established builder of dry freight box, curtainside and dropside bodies, over the last five years Bevan Group has expanded into several new areas of operation.

The launch of Bevan Specialist Products means the Bevan Group can now offer steel and alloy tipping bodies for vehicles ranging in size from 3.5 to 32 tonnes gvw.

Bevan Specialist Products also manufactures traffic management bodies and dropsiders, including high-sided units for arboreal work and other, specialised versions. The parent company was already building dropsiders in substantial numbers for high-profile operators such as Jewson at its main production facility in Halesowen, but the acquisition provides useful additional capacity and flexibility to meet customer demand.

Bevan Group Managing Director Anthony Bevan said: “This very exciting development takes us into a completely new market segment, and represents a perfect ‘fit’ for our business

“As well as giving us the opportunity to approach operators we have never worked with before, it allows us to offer an extended range of bodies and services to a number of established customers with which we already enjoy excellent relationships.”

The launch of Bevan Specialist Products follows the Bevan Group’s acquisition in 2010 of PG Reeves, a specialist manufacturer of vehicle bodies for the drinks industry, and in 2014 of Supertrucks, a builder of glass carrying transport systems.

Bevan also has strategic partnerships with crane manufacturer HMF and with Schmitz Cargobull for the assembly of the German company’s temperature-controlled bodywork.