A survey has identified 17 of the UK's top 519 forklift companies as "classic acquisition targets".

The survey, by Plimsoll Publishing Ltd, assessed the companies on their overall financial strength and measured their "acquisition attractiveness" based on eight criteria.

A company scored a point for meeting each of the criteria.
The criteria were sales growth, whether it was above the industry average; financial rating, whether the company was showing financial stress; actual earnings, does the company have debts because of high overheads; current and future values, is there a big difference between the two; directors' fees, are they taking a high proportion of profits; directors' ages, an ageing board is more amenable; parent company, which makes negotiations complex; and board size, a unanimous decision to sell is easier to obtain.

Companies scoring six points and above were considered "classic acquisition targets". Of the 519 companies, 15 scored six points and two scored seven.

David Pattison, Plimsoll's senior analyst, said parties interested in acquiring forklift companies would be armed with an analysis that resulted from long, tedious research.

The study, available for sale, contains an individual analysis of each company, based on financial performance for the last four years. It includes the analysis, company valuations and the acquisition attractiveness scores. For more information, go to www.plimsoll.co.uk.