Centrica buys family firm PH Jones for £30m
A plumber who launched a heating business from his garden shed in 1963 has secured a comfortable retirement, tapping British Gas for £30m by selling two-thirds of the firm.
Brenda and Phil Jones: Retiring after 50 years
Phil Jones has run property maintenance and repair business PH Jones with his wife Brenda for almost 50 years, having set up as a sole trader in Malpas, Cheshire.
The couple, both in their 60s, are retiring and leaving sons Martin and Chris to continue running the remaining utility services division, which boasts a £15m turnover.
British Gas parent company Centrica is buying PH Jones to beef up its Community Energy division.
The social housing business provides central heating services and repairs to around 250,000 properties under 42 contracts. It also installs more than 8,000 central heating systems a year through 28 contracts.
Martin Jones said: 'Having nurtured and successfully grown the business for nearly 50 years, the time is right for mum and dad to exit the company and enjoy a well-earned retirement.'
He added: 'We've built this business on strong family values and these have been the foundation of its success.'
The Jones brothers, who are equal shareholders in the new PH Jones Metering Services business, have ambitious plans to double turnover by 2014 through a focus on emerging smart metering technology.
Martin Jones said: 'By solely concentrating on metering services, our aim is to continuously improve the service delivery.'
PH Jones Metering Services will operate out of the Wrexham office and retain 250 engineers and 50 support staff. And 850 others will transfer to British Gas. Social housing accounts for 5m homes or around a fifth of Britain's housing stock. The sector is forecast to spend about £3.5bn on energy services by 2012.
Centrica said the acquisition would boost its social housing energy services business and help social housing companies cut residents' energy use, carbon emissions and fuel bills.
Betsy Bassis, managing director of British Gas Community Energy, said: 'The acquisition of PH Jones significantly accelerates our growth strategy.
'PH Jones is a successful, profitable company in this sector and combining its strengths with those of British Gas will deliver important benefits for our customers.'
Last year Centrica (down 3.1p at 314.2p) signed a deal with social housing specialist Mears to jointly bid on repair and maintenance contracts.
Mears (down 5p at 254p) yesterday said it had won £120m of new contracts since its annual results were published in March.
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