Allmand Bros appoints new UK distributor

US lighting tower manufacturer Allmand Bros Inc has ended its UK distributorship with ArcGen Hilta and appointed Andover-based shentongroup as its new UK distributor.

The separation of Allmand and ArcGen - described as amicable by Allmand - stems from ArcGen Hilta's acquisition of UK lighting tower manufacturer SMC in mid-2010.

Ross Hilton, Allmand's director of international sales, told IRN that the two companies "began discussing ways in which both companies could operate together and maybe play off each others strengths. SMC had a product that Allmand didn't have and visa-versa.

"Unfortunately, over time we were unable to put together anything that made sense for either company so it was decided during a meeting with Chris Morris at ArcGen in early February that it was time for both companies to go our separate ways."

Mr Hilton said the parting had been a good one and that "we at Allmand wish the Morris family nothing but health and success in the future in all of their endeavours".

The new distributor, shentongroup, is a power generation sales and rental company owned by the Meek family, and whose managing director is Darren Meek. Mr Hilton said shenton and been referred to Allmand by SE Power, Allmand's successful distributor in Australia.

"The Meek family shares many of the same values as the Allmand family, owners of Allmand Bros, Inc, and I believe they have the organisation to represent our products well in the UK market", said Mr Hilton.

The shentongroup was formed in 1982 as Scorpion Power Systems, selling diesel generators and UPS systems. Since then, it had added three other divisions; Merlin Power Management, which services generators and has a rental fleet of gensets, and Powercall UK, which operates an emergency generator rental service. The fourth division, Celtaire, designs and installs air conditioning and air cleaning systems for offices, computer rooms and telecom cabins.