THE OWNER of an Ayrshire plant hire company is to develop a garden centre and country park after selling the business in a management buyout backed by Royal Bank of Scotland.

Tom Blackwood, who bought Stewarton-based Blackwood Plant Hire from his father in 2001, has sold the business for an undisclosed sum to a management team backed by sales director Paul McCormack and plant manager Allan Wilson.

Under the terms of Royal Bank of Scotland’s loan Mr Blackwood will continue at the plant hire business in a two-year consultancy role and will also serve as its chairman.

During that time he and his wife Joan, who retain a 10 per stake in the business, will develop neighbouring Blackwood Decorative Aggregates into a fully fledged garden and visitor centre.

“We started that seven years ago as a sideline,” Mr Blackwood said. “We sell garden stones, chips, artificial bark, benches – anything for the garden.

“We’re going to open a garden centre with almost a country park idea so people can come and spend the day there.”

Blackwood Decorative Aggregates has been growing steadily in recent years, with current assets rising from £113,000 in 2012/13 to £564,000 last year, and Mr Blackwood said it would take around two years to bring the new growth plan to fruition.

Once complete, Mr Blackwood’s aim is to grow the business in much the same way as he expanded Blackwood Plant Hire during his 16 years at the helm.

“I bought the company from my dad in 2001. He was retiring and had two excavators,” Mr Blackwood said.

“I decided to leave my company, buy the excavators and expand and we’ve moved to over 320-odd excavators and over 200 people.”

The business, which is expecting to report turnover for the 2016/17 year of £18.5 million, up from £14.8m in 2015/16, now supplies machinery all across the UK, with sales being led from its Stewarton base.

Profits have also been on an upward trajectory, with the pre-tax figure rising by 42 per cent, from £1.2m to £1.7m, in the year to March 2016.

Despite the growth, Mr Blackwood said he is stepping down from the business after always promising himself he would hand it on before he reached the age of 50.

“I always said I would like to retire - or move on from plant hire - before 50 and I’m 48 now,” he said.

“The team here is great. I looked at a couple of trade sales and had a couple of offers but I couldn’t walk away from the people who work for me.

“I thought about an MBO and they were really keen.

“The guys have got plenty of experience of plant hire and have their own ideas of how to take the company forward.”

Between them Mr McCormack and Mr Wilson have almost 25 years’ experience working for Blackwood Plant Hire.

Mr McCormack joined the business in 2008, having held a number of similar roles in other Ayrshire businesses. Mr Wilson, meanwhile, has been with Blackwood Plant Hire since 2003.

Mr McCormack said: “We are honoured that Tom has put such faith in us as suitable people to take on and build upon the strong foundations he has laid.

“We are looking forward to taking Blackwood Plant to the next level.”

The business, which was set up by Mr Blackwood senior in 1960, supplies both operated and self-drive excavators to the construction industry and the DIY market. Clients include Land Engineering, Raynesway, Carillion Civil Engineering and Scottish Water.

The structure of the MBO deal, which was put together by law firm Shepherd & Wedderburn and tax advisers Robertson Craig, has seen the Blackwoods receive a lump sum pay-out in addition to a deferred payment.

While the terms of the Royal Bank of Scotland loan mean that Mr Blackwood must retain a 10 per cent stake in the business for two years, he said that whether he continues to hold a share after that will be “up for discussion once the borrowings have been paid”.