Swarco acquires Hitex Group

Acquisition expands Austrian firm's road marking systems business in the UK
By Adam Hill October 26, 2021 Read time: 2 mins
Swarco buys Hitex: Swarco COO Michael Schuch (front row, left), Geoff Lloyd (second from left) and Harald Mosböck (second from right) with members of the Lloyd family and Swarco execs (image credit: Swarco)

Traffic technology company Swarco has bought UK road marking firm Hitex Group.

Swarco acquired 100% of the shares of family-owned Hitex Holdings, which was founded in 1972 in Ellesmere Port near Liverpool and has 130 staff.

Hitex's companies turn over around €27 million and handle a mixture of road safety-related work: producing road marking materials and decorative surfacing products (Hitex Traffic Safety); contracting for road marking services (L&R Roadlines); and manufacturing road marking vehicles and machinery (Somerford Equipment).

It is Austria-based Swarco's second buy in the last few weeks: in September it announced the acquisition of Dynniq Mobility.

Swarco speaker of the board and COO Michael Schuch says Hitex is a good fit because of the "strong know-how in their field, a good market penetration, a high reputation, and the background of a family ownership with a corporate culture similar to ours".

"The Hitex companies will give us direct access to the road marking systems sector in the UK, helping us to gain a significant market share by introducing our five-decade long expertise in road safety materials,” Schuch added.

The UK firm was owned by four members of the Lloyd family. “We are happy to have found with Swarco a family-owned business with a strong know-how in the production of glass beads, road marking materials and the application of line markings”, says Geoff Lloyd.

Harald Mosböck, Swarco’s vice president for road marking systems in Europe and the APMEA regions, says owning Hitex will open up the market for products such as Swarco SolidPlus beads and two-component MMA systems.

"Together we will be able to offer a new level of high performance road marking systems and give a boost to the driving quality and safety on Britain’s road network," he concludes.
 

 

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Siemens acquires UK enforcement provider Zenco Systems
    July 2, 2015
    Intelligent traffic systems supplier Siemens has acquired UK traffic enforcement organisation, Zenco Systems. The announcement underlines Siemens’ commitment to the growing traffic enforcement market and follows a number of successful joint technology projects between the two companies in the UK, including deployments in Manchester and London. Zenco Systems was founded in 2006 to provide local authorities with the ability to use CCTV video evidence to enforce traffic contraventions. Following the first d
    Read More
  • Swarco and Tinynode team up on smart parking
    November 12, 2013
    Smart parking solutions from Swiss-based Tinynode’s are to be added to Swarco’s road safety and traffic management portfolio in a partnership that sees the technology also added to Swarco’s own traffic solutions. Tinynode’s wireless vehicle detection systems for outdoor and on-street parking are used as part of smart parking solutions which enable motorists to locate a free parking space. The company says there are several million parking spaces in Europe alone that could utilise the system. The Swarco
    Read More
  • Prison sentence for holding a mobile device while driving
    February 5, 2015
    As of 1 February, it will be illegal for drivers in Singapore to hold any type of mobile device while driving. Previously, only calling or texting someone on a mobile phone was barred. Anyone caught holding any mobile device, phone or tablet, while driving can be found guilty of committing an offence; this means mobile phones and tablets. The new changes include not just talking or texting but also surfing the web, visiting social media sites and downloading material. The law also applies to just hold
    Read More
  • Go-Ahead uses Dovu’s blockchain tech to augment customer data
    February 7, 2019
    UK train and bus company Go-Ahead is to use Dovu’s blockchain-driven reward platform to gain more data on its passengers. The scheme will be rolled out initially on Go-Ahead’s Thameslink and Southern Rail train services and offers passengers using the Dovu platform the chance to earn cryptocurrency when they share their travel information. This will be used to help them make changes to their travel behaviour, the companies say. Among other things, Dovu aims to encourage the use and sharing of tran
    Read More

Highlighted Content