Lift for Angus as XL Group rescues Ross & Bonnyman

THE assets of hydraulic lift specialist Ross & Bonnyman have been acquired in a deal that could see the return of some of the jobs lost after the Forfar firm’s collapse earlier this month.

The former £7 million-turnover business has been bought by XL Group, a specialist in industrial technologies based in Aberdeen. The group has formed a subsidiary, Ross & Bonnyman XL Ltd, to acquire the Forfar operation.

Provisional liquidator Ken Pattullo of Begbies Traynor said XL Group intends to re-start manufacturing “as soon as possible”, and create up to 30 jobs. Liquidators were forced to make all 80 staff at the factory redundant three weeks ago after the company ran out of money.

Colin Laird, managing director of XL Group, said the addition of Ross & Bonnyman was a “great bonus” to his firm.

“Plans are already under way to re-open the Forfar factory which is good news for the local community and we plan to increase our workforce throughout the group to over 100 over the next year by recruiting additional engineers,” he said.