7:50 am, August 16, 2022
Wales’s largest car dealer, the Sinclair Group, is set to move into England after purchasing Shukers.
The deal, for an undisclosed sum, sees Sinclair acquiring the £50.2m-turnover Shukers Group from the Rubery Owen Group and three sites.
Sinclair will now expand its Welsh territory up to Aberystwyth, where it will take over Shukers’s Land Rover showroom and also represent Hyundai for the first time.
The Sinclair name will also cross the border into England and take over Shukers’s Land Rover dealership in Ludlow, Shropshire.
More than 50 staff have crossed over to Sinclair, which now has a 900-strong workforce representing 10 brands in 24 locations.
‘Like us, Shukers is a well-established, family business and we share a similar culture and the same core values, focus and passion for providing outstanding customer service so this is a great fit for us,’ said Andy Sinclair, Sinclair Group, managing director.
‘The Jaguar Land Rover brand is extremely strong in the UK and is already an important part of our group. The addition of two very successful Land Rover sites will significantly increase our territory for the brand and will double the points of representation we have following our takeover of retailers in Swansea and Brecon since 2018.’
He continued: ‘The opportunity to represent Hyundai for the first time is equally exciting, especially with its reputation for being so progressive on the electric vehicle front.
‘The Hyundai product line-up is expanding rapidly so it’s a brilliant time to be involved with the brand as it will enable us to offer something very different to our current portfolio and presents our customers with even more choice.’
The Sinclair Group is most like Rubery Owen in style and values
Rubery Owen Group CEO, Richard Jenkins, said: ‘The future of the UK motor retail environment will face a lot of change in the coming years with the move to electrification and the increasing importance of online sales.
‘To take advantage of all the opportunities these changes present, we believe that Shukers will be better placed being part of a much bigger family company that is purely focused on the motor retail sector,’ he explained.
‘The board and shareholders agreed that a buyer would be found based on being the best “home” for our team and our business and we believe that the Sinclair Group is most like Rubery Owen in style and values.’
Joe Barney, head of business at Shukers, added: ‘We are delighted to be joining the Sinclair Group, both teams in Ludlow and Aberystwyth are looking forward to further developing and growing the businesses into the future.
‘We are committed to delivering the same high levels of customer service through the same outstanding teams under our new name.’
David Kendrick, head of automotive at UHY Hacker Young, who advised the shareholders of Shukers on the sale said: ‘It has been a very interesting few years for Shukers, having sold Shrewsbury Land Rover initially and then purchasing the Aberystwyth Land Rover and Hyundai business a short while after.
‘This sale to Sinclair’s makes absolute sense as it links very nicely with their existing Ross On Wye dealership, creating a strong market area. I have no doubt the business will continue to grow and flourish under their new ownership.’
Meanwhile, after overseeing the Sinclair Group’s JLR operation for the past two years, Nicky Boyce has celebrated his tenth anniversary with the company by being promoted to the post of head of franchise for Jaguar Land Rover and Hyundai.
Boyce said: ‘I’m delighted and proud to have been given this appointment and I look forward to welcoming our new colleagues in Aberystwyth and Ludlow into the group and building on the success and reputation achieved by our two existing Land Rover operations in the past two years.’
