Canegreen will continue as a trading name within the SSE Audio Group, offering Meyer andEAW alongside SSE Hire's Nexo, L-Acoustics and Adamson products, thereby offering the widest choice of systems to customers from any single UK supplier. Canegreen founders Yan Stile and Pete Edmonds join the board of SSE Audio Group as both directors and shareholders.
SSE's Redditch base will remain as Group Headquarters, with over 35,000sq.ft of warehouse space for the preparation, servicing and storage of hire equipment. The Group will retain Canegreen's London base in Tottenham, enabling the Group to service its hire contracts more effectively in the South East.
"The expanded Group will be better placed to serve the changing demands of live audio, withefficiencies in organisation together with a greater focus on specialisation as demanded byadvances in technology", said the companies statement.
SSE Audio Group's MD John Penn commented: "This move creates a tremendous opportunity for both SSE and Canegreen. The two businesses have accumulated a wealth of specialised knowledge and experience in our combined history of over 55 years. We have complementary systems, so each can offer our customers a wider range of options and we can pool our technical and managementresources to increase our efficiency.
"Digital technologies have created a requirement for a wide range of skilled specialists in an ever-increasing number of areas - including consoles, amplifiers, system processing and control, radio microphones, in-ear monitoring and communications systems. We believe this move will help us to justify the associated costs of building this team of talented specialists.
Penn continued: "From a logistics point of view, we have a facility in Redditch, which is second to none in the industry. Just last week we accommodated five 40ft trucks simultaneously, as we prepared the equipment loads for the10-stage Global Gathering event. Redditch will be at the hub of the Group for our combined hire inventories, while Canegreen's London presence offers an important satellite facility in the capital.
"This latest move follows the process we started in 2001 with the merger of SSE Hire with Melpomen in France, and followed in 2006 with the acquisition of London-based Tarsin Entertainment. We see the economies of scale that we can achieve by mergers and acquisitions as the way forward."
Canegreen MD, Yan Stile commented: "Our ethos of 25 years at Canegreen will be the same! Pete Edmonds and I will remain at the Canegreen helm indefinitely whilst utilising our skills within the new, enlarged, SSE Audio Group. What will change will only be for the better. The combination of our two infrastructures will allow us to give more time and attention to our customers. Every customer isimportant to us and in this ever changing industry, with ever increasing regulatory demands, we can move forward with all bases covered."
Canegreen Director Pete Edmonds adds: "When Yan and I formed Canegreen 25 years ago the sound rental business was run by hobbyists, enthusiasts and ex-pop stars: - and good times they were too! The demands of what has become an industry in the 21st century are so very different now.This new venture is a necessary requirement and one that we happily make.
"As two halves we were good. As a whole we'll be even better. We're thrilled that we've been able to achieve this ground breaking union with SSE. We're absolutely delighted that we'll be working together with such a strong team and we just can't wait to give our customers the benefits."
(Lee Baldock)
