Have I missed something here?
I was talking to my brother on the phone last weekend,who lives in Felixstowe (my brother,not the phone,although his phone also lives in Felixstowe) and he was saying that Hanbury Davies has been bought by Wincanton.
Is this a recent thing,or have I missed something?
Glyn Davies must be counting his money.
KW:
Glyn Davies must be counting his money.
I heard that it’s his favorite pastime, evidently on the day of the takeover he had the workshop syphon diesel out of one of his old lorries & fill his Range Rover up 
How cheap can you get 
As I heard it he still owns all the lorries as Hanbury Riverside & leases them to Wincanton, so as soon as they all run out I wouldn’t like to be in Lee Smith’s (the riverside part) shoes 
my brother works for them, sid the office staff answer still as hanbury, but sometimes as wincantons, no one still knows exactly whats happening i think, i drove past today and saw some of the new trucks are liveried as wincantons
Shrewd man Glynn Davies got out at the top again.
i heard that the riverside part was bought by wincanton something to do with the way he tied them all up in contracts? don’t know how true it is?
riverside is separate and still owned by glynn
I found this at Roadtransport.com:
Wincanton seals £25m Hanbury Davies deal
24 January 2008
Logistics firm Wincanton continued its aggressive acquisition strategy this week with the £25m purchase of container firm Hanbury Davies (HD). Although the move will have come as a surprise to some, those in the container sector say that the identities of the two parties are not a shock. John Williams, managing director at Maritime Transport, says: "It wasn’t entirely a surprise. Wincanton has been making some overtures in the container sector for some time and until now we have seen very little evidence of beef, there’s been no real action to support its profile.
“You could read into it that they had an intention to get in [to the market] and the only way was to acquire an established operator. Although the directors should be congratulated for this outstanding deal, I hope they have looked after all their staff - I hope that it’s more than simply leaving them to TUPE.” Previously, Wincanton had only dipped its toe into the sector with an inland container base at Alconbury and a small container logistics business for shipping line OOCL in Marchwood near Southampton. Martin Taylor, MD of Wincanton’s retail division, says the firm is delighted with the deal: “We are very pleased, we have been working on this for quite a few months,” he says. “We have been developing our container logistics strategy for 18 months, so to end up buying one of the top companies is very pleasing.”
It sees the acquisition of HD as vital to give it scale in a highly competitive marketplace
Taylor thinks the new company will be placed fourth in the sector behind Maritime, Maersk and DHL. Taylor says that growth in the container market made a deal like this a logical move: “Any business growing at 11% per year is worth following up. We feel that with Wincanton’s operational and management ability we can make [container logistics] a success.” Although Wincanton conducted “desk-top studies” into a number of Felixstowe-based firms, HD was the only one it approached, he says. “It’s a very professional company it impressed us with its business, its managers and its customers. The more we looked at it, the more it became clear that it was a very good business and a very good cultural fit,” he adds.
Taylor says he is not phased by the low margins in the sector and claims that most container logistics firms enjoy a better return on sales than 3PLs. HD’s current MD Ian Wilson will remain in charge of the division and Wincanton’s assets at Alconbury and Marchwood will be brought under his control. In addition, Taylor says the firm will be looking to create another inland container base as “Alconbury is close to full”. HD will eventually be rebranded as Wincanton, and vehicles reliveried. Additionally, Wincanton will be taking over HD’s non-container distribution contracts. Taylor says there are no further deals on the radar, but the company will look for more infill acquisitions if necessary.
As for HD, it’s the second time that Glyn Davies has built a highly successful company up, only to sell it off. He previously ran Russell Davies before selling it to Securicor in the late 1990s. He then set up HD in 1999 and has made it one of the largest container transport operators in the UK. Glyn Davies retains an interest in the successful Hanbury Riverside truck dealership and a property development business, Ashby Lawrence Homes.
Analysts’ views
The deal has been given a mixed reception from analysts. Mark O’Bornick, research director at Analytiqa, describes the deal as “interesting”. He adds: "[Consolidation] is something we have been expecting for a long time in this sector. “It now gives Wincanton a dock-to-door capability and positions them against DHL in UK container logistics.” He says that although HD had a good reputation in the sector, Wincanton can add a better understanding of the entire supply chain to its operation.
However, Thomas Cullen, chief analyst at Transport Intelligence, is less positive about the deal. “I can see why Wincanton is doing it, as it allows it to offer a full service to its customers. However, it leaves it over-exposed to one of the most unprofitable sectors in the market. It’s a very competitive sector - virtually to the extent of being uneconomical.” He says the increasing dominance of freight forwarders in the container shipping market is serving to drive down prices.
He adds that although the UK has been Wincanton’s focus of late, he expects that may change: “The UK has clearly been a priority for the company, but I can’t see it not strengthening its continental European business.” Cullen also points to UK firms Gist and NFT Distribution as being potential takeover targets.
Industry reaction
John Williams, MD of Felixstowe-based market leader Maritime Transport, remains sanguine about the potential new competition he now faces. He warns that it is not a sector in which big corporate companies have traditionally found much success: "In terms of Wincanton, it’s curious how it described the rationale for the move that it had a gap that needed filling. “The first thing that comes to mind is that they should mind that gap. You don’t see plcs prospering in this sector because it’s very much a hands-on people business.”
It’s an opinion supported by financial results at some of the big firms: Roadways Container Logistics - part of Maersk - lost £23.5m in its last financial year and DHL’s container division made a loss of almost £152,000 in just six months trading. This was despite owing other companies within the DHL group almost £29m in loans, and its continued ability to trade is solely down to support from the parent company.
Williams also plays down the potential benefits to Wincanton of being able to offer a dock-to-door transport service: “You can buy container transport in so competitively there’s no reason you need to own it. We are seeing quite a bit of activity at the top end of the container transport industry, there’s quite a bit of instability there.”