David Cooper

Cooper SH is consolidating its businesses, including the recently acquired Samuk, into a new UK structure.

A new holding company owned by Cooper SH directors David Cooper and Tony Rooney bought Samuk in September 2012 (Forkliftaction.com News #589).

While "retaining the roots of the Cooper SH brand", the business will now encompass a 'General Handling' portfolio to house the Samuk brand and will be based in a new centralised Midlands facility. Cooper SH is already the established distributor for Konecranes forklifts and Mantsinen material handlers.

The consolidation comes after a three-month strategic review and means that the Samuk business, currently located at Peterborough, will be brought fully into the Cooper fold.

"Bringing the two businesses under one corporate roof will help to make both businesses stronger," says Cooper. "There are opportunities for shared expertise and resources as well as helping us to significantly reduce operating costs."

Within the new structure, the specialised handling division will focus on heavy forklifts, port and container handling and, as before, will primarily represent a direct-sell operation.

The general handling division will handle Samuk's smaller counterbalance and related trucks through a dealer model, but Cooper SH will broaden the dealers' product range by offering them access to the Konecranes forklifts up to 33 T.

Rooney says the new structure will allow the company to meet the diverse needs of the specialised heavy handling market, which tends to be specification-led. "At the same time, with the reach of our dealer network, we can satisfy the demands of the generalist volume-based market, thereby maximising the synergy across both."

Following Cooper SH's dealer launch in November, Rooney adds, "a strong dealer network will be key to our future, and we are looking to appoint more dealers at the IMHX show in March."