Pochin buys Plumbwares

East Midlands independent plumbing and heating merchant Pochin has bought Stourbridge plumbers merchant Plumbwares.

The deal, for 100% of the Plumbwares share capital, marks Pochin’s first move into the West Midlands. Plumbwares will continue to trade as a subsidiary of Robert Pochin Limited.

Pochin managing director David Pochin said: “Plumbwares is a very good business where the standards of customer service and competitive pricing is a perfect fit for Pochin’s own approach to trade.

“We welcome our nine new colleagues to the Pochin family and look forward to working closely with the highly respected and experienced team to enhance the offer in Stourbridge.”

Plumbwares was founded in 2002 by Mike Clarke, a veteran of the plumbing and heating supply industry. Clarke will remain involved in the business, as will his manager Dave Jasper. Pochin’s trade sales development manager Pete Trickett will help oversee the integration of Pumbwares into Pochin.

Clarke said: “I’m very pleased to be passing Plumbwares into the very safe hands of Pochin. We share a common approach to serving our customers and looking after our employees.”

The deal for Plumbwares is Pochin’s first acquisition since the 2005 purchase of Norman and Underwood’s plumbers merchant branch in Hinckley. Since then Pochin has opened three branches – in Loughborough, Market Harborough and its head office branch at Leicester’s Murrayfield Road – and recently invested heavily in a new trade counter and award winning consumer showroom in Leicester city centre.

Pochin said: “We have never stopped investing in the business, and the timing is good for us to continue to expand our horizons. Plumbwares is an ideal acquisition and enables us to enter a new trading area for the business.”