Everyone’s a winner as Elms Lightning Fasteners changes hands

Two of the fastener and fixings industry’s leading manufacturers have set the seal on a deal transferring ownership of a Birmingham-based production facility.

Elms Lightning Fasteners, of Lightning Way, West Heath, has been acquired by Jubilee^® Clips from SEAC for an undisclosed sum.  The announcement is great news for Factory Manager Phil Maher and his colleagues in Birmingham, for whom Jubilee^® Clips was previously a customer.  The cut-to-fit metal banding systems they manufacture sit perfectly within the new owner’s established range of worm drive hose clips and associated clips and clamps.

SEAC, by contrast, is best known for its market-leading Polytops™ moulded plastic top fixings and Con-Sert™ concrete, baypole and multi-purpose screws, which it produces from top-quality, A4-grade stainless steel.  SEAC has also been able to use proceeds from the sale of Elms Lightning Fasteners to help fund its recent move to a smart new headquarters with nearly 25,000sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space, on the Chartwell Industrial Estate in Wigston, near Leicester.

The highly automated Birmingham operation will continue to trade as Elms Lightning Fasteners while the Stranglehold Banding name under which its core product is sold will also be retained.  Particularly popular with the heating and ventilation, and sign-fixing industries, the Stranglehold system comprises a worm drive steel strip that can be cut to the length required, and screw housings which slide onto the band. The band can then be tightened onto pipes or ducts of almost any diameter, with a screw inserted into the housing.

Ian Jennings, Managing Director at Gillingham-based Jubilee^® Clips, recalled: “The possibility of our acquiring Elms Lightning Fasteners was first mooted at the Fastener & Fixings Show in Stuttgart a couple of years ago. But it was not until last April that talks began in earnest, since when they’ve been conducted in a spirit of friendliness and co-operation.”

He continued: “The Stranglehold system compliments our existing product line-up while Elms Lightning Fasteners is a thriving business, with some highly skilled staff. This acquisition gives us as an immediate 10 per cent increase in revenues, as well as access to new customers. And through exchanges of best practice, particularly in terms of materials and production techniques, we see definite opportunities to add further value and grow our business as a whole.”

SEAC Managing Director David Buckley added: “Clips and clamps are Jubilee^® Clips’ core business and they’re very good at what they do. So it made perfect sense for them to assume control of Elms Lightning Fasteners, and we wish our former employees every success under their new owners.

“We at SEAC, meanwhile, lead our own market segment with products like Polytops and Con-Sert. We’re now entering a very exciting phase and looking forward to meeting growing customer demand from our new, wholly-owned base in Wigston.”