History

The acquisition of Sunnex Equipment Group in 2001 marked the first acquisition of a manufacturing company with own products. Thereafter, several new companies have been added to our group, among other Pronomic (2002), Movomech (2005), RonI (2006), Finnlift (2010), Advanced Handling (2012), 3i (2015), Dynamic Filtration (2018), Liftsafe Group (2020), and PHS West (2021).

Today the Amplex group consists of more than 20 operating companies with a focus on materials handling, workplace safety, and lighting.

Recent years in brief

2022/23 (October – September)

The global political situation remained very unsettled and the economies of many of the countries in which we operate were pressured by rising interest rates and high inflation. Despite this, the business environment was stable to favourable for most of our companies. In particular, our material handling businesses showed good strength with good volume growth and a number of new contracts with high-profile customers for data centre equipment. The fall protection and workplace safety businesses performed better than the previous year, while the lighting business felt the effects of a weakening economy with slightly lower demand.

During the financial year, the French company Ingenitec, a manufacturer of ergonomic lifting equipment, and the Irish company JB Roche, which develops and manufactures inflatable hangars and protection for the aerospace and defence industry, were acquired. At the beginning of 2023, Henrik Johansson took over as the new business area manager for Industrial.

2021/22 (October – September)

The effects of the Covid pandemic abated but some impact remained in the form of continued shortages of components and sluggish supply chains. Meanwhile, geopolitical unease increased as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which among other things caused severe disturbances in the international energy market. At the same time, interest rates rose and inflation gained momentum.

Despite a turbulent environment, the business situation remained favourable for most of Amplex’s operations. Demand for our products was good overall and total sales increased. Several of the companies within lifting technology and materials handling reported record volumes and we also saw good growth in lighting operations. On the other hand, our companies in Canada that deliver equipment for workplace safety showed weaker development still affected by the pandemic which impeded service business and reduced demand from the aviation industry.

During the year we acquired the Swedish company Pritec Vaculift which develops and manufactures materials handling equipment including paving machines and vacuum lifts.

2020/21 (October – September)

A year of tough restrictions to halt the Covid pandemic which included workplace lockdowns, working from home and travel bans. Despite this, the industrial economy was doing well and many of the Amplex companies experienced increased order intake. Challenges in the form of an increasingly significant global component shortage and subsequent extended lead times were handled well by the companies.

Our companies in Materials Handling were generally strong with Pronomic in Sweden in particular winning a number of large orders. The product companies in the USA also showed good development, while the operations were slower within Industrial Safety. The companies within Lighting (lighting and vibration damping products) worked successfully to strengthen their margins.

The American company PHS West was acquired in May. The company develops and manufactures tugs and lifting equipment specially adapted for healthcare, warehouses and data centres. During the year, the car operations in Bilpartner Skåne with subsidiaries were also sold. This closed down the Automotive business area.

Cleaning up the group structures

In order to create greater clarity, changes were made at the end of the year to the group structures for Amplex and our two sister groups KAMIC Group and Mindelon. With effect from the financial year 2021/22 (starting 1 October), Amplex brings together all companies in the sphere active in lifting technology, materials handling and industrial safety. KAMIC Group will be home to all electrical and electronics companies in the sphere, while Mindelon holds the companies operating within retail technology.

2019/20 (October – September)

The start of the financial year was positive for most of the businesses. The US-based companies in the Material Handling division experienced good demand and increased volumes. The market for Retail Solutions was also favourable with considerable interest in new digital signage solutions. In late winter the Covid-19 pandemic hit with full force and made a strong impact on the rest of the year. The effect of Covid was initially clearly negative but a more complex picture soon emerged to the extent that many companies and units could quickly recover lost volumes while the effect on others was more sustained.

Overall volumes kept up relatively well and in those companies where volumes fell actions were taken to adjust costs. A combination of long-term measures and short-term cost reductions, in the form of government subventioned furloughs as well as reduced travel costs, provided good support for the companies most impacted by Covid.