Sioen Industries NV has acquired 100% of the shares of the James Dewhurst Group, a leading manufacturer of technical textiles and Europe ’s largest producer of open construction laid scrims with production facilities both in the UK and the USA.

The company’s customers add scrims to their products primarily to provide strength, reinforcement and stability, as well as to assist the customer’s production process, add weight to the final product or to provide flexibility or electrical conductivity. James Dewhurst is currently active in six industry sectors, building and construction, industrial, geotextiles, health and hygiene, packaging and transport.

“With the global textiles industry set for continued growth, this complementary acquisition brings together two of the most well-regarded names in the reinforcement textiles industry and continues to demonstrate the resilience of the UK industrials sector post the Brexit vote,” commented Philip Barker, partner and Head of Industrials at Cavendish Corporate Finance, which advised James Dewhurst Group on the sale.

Market leading position

James Dewhurst Group has successfully developed a proprietary manufacturing technology that allowed it to establish a market leading position in the supply of open construction laid scrims, the company reports.

With this acquisition, worth £44 million, Veranneman Technical Textiles, a division of Sioen Industries, aims to reinforce its position in the market of the reinforcement textiles and complete its product range. The new configuration can offer a full range of woven, laid and laminate scrims and fabrics.

Sales for James Dewhurst Group are forecasted to be £40 million with forecasted EBITDA margin of approximately £6 million. Sioen Industries expects to take control as of early June.

Sioen Industries

Sioen Industries has an extensive portfolio of products and activities, which include spinning, weaving and coating, manufacturing of garments, production of fine chemicals and processing of technical textiles. Sioen says that vertical and horizontal integration, diversification and permanent growth provide the company with a major technical advantage and better R&D.

The company’s main focuses are on customised products, high end, specialised products, recyclable/recycled products, integrated features, and intelligent textiles.

www.sioen.com