Management Team Buys Top Lifejacket Manufacturer

Dec. 17, 2008 - PRLog -- In a deal worth up to £ 4 million, managing director, John Rogers and sales director Geoff Billington have become owners of the world’s largest manufacturer of inflatable marine lifejackets.

International Safety Products Ltd has been purchased from its previous owner who has been in control of the company (which was founded in 1981) for the past twelve years. Since then it has grown into a leading manufacturer of custom-branded lifejackets and its own professional quality Challenger lifejackets for the commercial marine and offshore markets. The Bootle-based company is, in addition, a major manufacturer of immersion suits and specialised utility waistcoats for the police and armed forces. ISP is also the sole UK importer of the ZODIAC range of SOLAS-approved liferafts and rescue boats.  

The new owners of ISP believe that their acquisition will herald a leap forward for the company with even more product innovation and a bigger share of a market widely fragmented by numerous small and short-lived manufacturers. Lifejackets account for roughly two thirds of the company’s  annual turnover.  ISP’s output now accounts for a substantial share of the global commercial and leisure lifejacket markets. Its blue-chip clients include Shell, British Gas, Texaco, the Ministry of Defence and BP, for whose oil rigs it has been the only approved inflatable marine lifejacket manufacturer since 1998.

The acquisition has been backed by the Alliance Fund  Managers’ Merseyside Investment Fund and the Cooperative Bank which both recognised ISP’s solid business foundations and its potential for growth over the next five years.  The news is expected to be welcomed by ISP’s skilled workforce which is based at the company’s headquarters on Hawthorne Road, Bootle and at a second factory in Birkenhead. All 95 staff will be retained under the new ownership which is confident that their job security will strengthen as renewed energy within the company enables it to increase its share of new and existing global markets.

In announcing the take-over, John Rogers, who will continue as managing director said: “ISP has become a globally-renowned brand in the marine safety sector with a large and loyal customer base and a reputation for breadth of product styles, quality and production flexibility. We are therefore in a fantastic position to exploit the predicted significant growth in the inflatable lifejacket market in the next five years, as demand for lightweight, compact, reliable life-saving devices continues to gather pace.  

“Despite the recessionary climate, we had no hesitation in buying the business and are very excited about the prospects for the company in the new era it is entering,” said Mr Rogers, “The current economic downturn is generally acknowledged as being due to a fundamental lack of confidence. This is not the attitude at ISP and we are ready to lead the way in helping our industry to snap out of it. Instead of joining the gloom-mongers in talking our economy down, we plan to demonstrate that there is nothing wrong with business that positive thinking cannot resolve. ”

For more information visit: www.ispl.co.uk      

-ENDS-

Sales enquiries:   Geoff Billington,

International Safety Products Ltd
Orrell Mount, 159 Hawthorne Road, Bootle, Merseyside, L20 6JU
Tel: +44 (0)151 922 2202  Fax: +44 (0)151 922 5874