Firm is going with the flow

Managing director John Wall, who will take on a similar role at Leeds Valve, says the Savile Street East-based Flow Group has been looking to acquire a butterfly valve business to complement its product range for several years.

He said: “Leeds Valve and our existing businesses supply many of the same markets and so there is an excellent fit.

“We have already started the process of establishing our fundamental business principal – only make realistic commitments, and then exceed them – to the management of the Leeds Valve business, so that customers and suppliers will soon enjoy the level of performance that they expect from Flow.”

Leeds Valve was established 18 years ago by Steven and Gordon Heap and has built up a reputation for supplying butterfly valves made from carbon steel to aluminium bronze, stainless steels and titanium, which are used for niche applications in the oil and gas, liquid natural gas (LNG), power generation, industrial gas and naval marine industries, among others.

Steven Heap, who will continue as sales and marketing director of Leeds Valve, said: “This is a great opportunity to accelerate the growth of the Leeds Valve business. Over the last 18 years, we have gradually developed a well-respected butterfly valve range and we already have a loyal international customer base.

“Now, with Flow Group’s manufacturing skills, financial strength and excellent international network of distributors and agents supporting us, we can offer our products to a wider market with confidence.”

Flow Group is privataely owned and employs almost 200 people in the UK and USA.

The group has three businesses in Sheffield – Bestobell Valves, which makes cryogenic valves for the industrial gas and downstream LNG industries, Bestobell LNG makes fire-safe cryogenic valves for the upstream LNG industry and Conflow, the world’s leading supplier of water control and monitoring equipment for the underground coal mines.

It owns Hull-based Shipham Valves, which supplies non-ferrous and high-alloy valve systems to the offshore and petrochemical industries for handling seawater and other ‘severe’ fluids, and John Mills Valves, based in Newcastle, supplies bronze and aluminium bronze valves to valve houses and original equipment manufacturers.

Flow Group also has a distribution business near Pittsburgh in the USA, which supplies Conflow and Bestobell products to the North American market.

Group sales hit $60 million (29.5 million) this year and have been growing at a compound annual rate of 30 per cent.