THE Bridle Group continues to grow its broker footprint with acquisition of Churchill Vehicle Leasing and the growth of its franchise offering.
Managing director and BVRLA leasing broker committee chair, Alan Carreras, announced the completion of the Churchill Vehicle Leasing deal today (Tuesday, February 11, 2020).
The Worthing-based leasing broker brings with it a live fleet of 1300 vehicles, while former owner Duncan Rujas will continue with the business.
Carreras, commenting on the acquisition, said:
“Churchill Vehicle Leasing is a decade old business specialising in the SME sector with a high level of business contract hire with maintenance deals on its books. We were also attracted by its strong fleet management penetration.
“I’m also very pleased to have Duncan retained within the business. He brings decades worth of vehicle fleet experience that will be extremely valuable to the group.”
The latest purchase by the acquisitive Hampshire based broker takes the number of brands acquired to 15 since its first purchase of VeSource in 2010.
Carreras said the 1300 vehicles took the Bridle Group’s live fleet size to plus 32,000 vehicles. Further acquisition remained on the cards, said Carreras, as Bridle Group continued its two-pronged strategic growth of broker purchase and franchise expansion.
Five appointed to Bridle Group Franchise programme
Along with the Churchill acquisition, group franchise director Tano Di Girolamo said that, following the announcement of the Bridle Group franchise programme, five franchisees had already been appointed along with the recruitment of a franchisee services team based at the company’s Oxford head office.
Di Girolamo added:
“Everyone who has been offered the opportunity to join the franchise programme has taken it up, although we have turned down a similar number that did apply but failed to meet the standards we are looking for.”
While the fifth broker agreement is being finalised, Di Girolamo announced the following appointments:
- Lease Force (specialising in British forces and diplomatic clients);
- Streamline Vehicle Leasing (associated with Gladstone Brookes);
- 1st Choice Leasing ( associated with 1st Choice Insurance); and
- Smart Leasing Solutions.
All new appointments will go through a three-day franchise induction programme to be held in Coventry next month. It will be run by Andy Rayner of AM Training.
Separately, Di Girolamo – who continues as managing director of Fulton Leasing – said that in the first full 12 months of trading as a Bridle Group company, Fulton had delivered its best ever performance in terms of profit and growth taking the number its live fleet to over 4,000 satisfied customers.
Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
