Michael Chadwick, the former chief executive of Grafton Group, has built up a 26.3 per cent stake in a small British industrial equipment maker, new stock exchange filings show.
Mr Chadwick has increased his stake in a company called HC Slingsby, a British supplier of industrial and commercial equipment, twice so far this year.
He has held a position in the company since 2009, when he took 6.75 per cent and increased his stake slowly over the course of the last few years, bringing it up to 15 per cent in 2015, before increasing it again twice this year from about 18 per cent to the current position of 26.3 per cent.
The company has a market capitalisation of about £2.9 million (€3.4 million) and a share price of about £2.75, which values Chadwick’s stake at about £770,000.
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HC Slingsby was founded in 1893 by Harry Crowther Slingsby, and publicly listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange in 1961. Slingsby’s descendant, Dominic Slingsby, remained on the board of the company until earlier this year.
In April the company announced it had sales in 2023 of £22.6 million, up from £21.6 million the year before. Its operating profit was £630,000. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for 2023 were just more than £1 million.
Mr Chadwick is best known for having run Grafton Group, which was founded by his grandfather William Chadwick as a builder’s merchants firm in Dublin in 1909. He joined the firm in 1975, at a time when it was majority owned by Marley Group, a UK company.
Mr Chadwick in 1987 led a management buyout, acquiring Marley’s stake, and then led a period of major growth through the 1990s and 2000s, during which time the company changed its name to Grafton Group, expanded into the UK, and moved its listing to London.
He stepped down as chief executive in 2011, and then retired as non-executive chairman in 2016.
He still has a 10.76 per cent stake in Grafton Group, which is worth just more than £218 million (€255 million) at the company’s current share price.
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