Wienerberger storms into UK brick market

Continental brickmaker Wienerberger last week made itself the UK's third-biggest brick manufacturer with an acquisition of nearly £100m. The Austrian group entered the UK manufacturing market with the acquisition of thebrickbusiness (TBB).
Wienerberger, which owns the Terca brand, previously owned 218 plants in 28 countries, but only had a sales operation in the UK.
The acquisition raises the company's share of the UK market from 3% to 17%. The acquisition puts it behind CRH and Hanson in the UK brick
manufacturing sector.
A Wienerberger spokesman said the company will run two businesses in parallel until the end of the calendar year, after which it will consolidate them under the same brand.
He added: "The two sales operations will be merged into one. Many of TBB's old customers may find themselves dealing with the same sales guys."
The acquisition involves 10 plants making extruded and machine-moulded bricks. Part of the deal is for TBB's Ockley site, which the spokesman said was on an extended maintenance shutdown while trying to reduce its stocks.
He said Wienerberger was originally interested in the site's clay reserves, but has decided to develop the business. The spokesman said the site makes semi-pressed bricks, but the company plans to spend £4m converting it into a wire-cut plant.
Wienerberger said it plans to produce 40 million extruded bricks from the site, which will be sold in the London area.
The company said its acquisition of TBB was sparked by
the UK's plans to build
new housing.
TBB currently employs 680 people, with a turnover of £64m. The spokesman said the company mainly sells its products through builders' merchants, although around 12% of the business is direct selling to
major housebuilders.