AJN Steelstock acquires new 17 acre stockyard site

Suffolk-based AJN Steelstock Ltd, one of the region’s leading suppliers of steel to the construction, agricultural, architectural, food processing and automotive sectors, has announced the acquisition of a major new seventeen acre site in Henstridge, Somerset.

The new site, which itself was the former Newton Steel stock site, will play a major role in AJN’s long-term expansion plans and the company expects to create around 150 new jobs over the next eighteen months. The company expects to create one hundred of those jobs by the end of 2015 as the new site opens in the autumn.

The acquisition will increase AJN’s sales capacity to around 150,000 tonnes per annum and will allow the company to offer enhanced services to its growing customer base stretching as far as the South Coast, Cornwall, and into Wales and the West Midlands.

AJNs Finance Director, Courtney Bell, said: “We have been searching for a suitable site for some time. We wanted a site which would keep us in contact with our customer base, one that is close to major transport hubs and one that would allow growth in line with our expansion plans.

“There will be no negative impact on our existing 11 acre site in Kentford, Suffolk.”

“The new Henstridge site is a perfect fit geographically for AJN as we already cover East Anglia, the Home Counties, East Midlands and London.”

Demand for the company’s steel has grown month on month which resulted in last year’s record turnover of £44 million (63,000 tonnes of steel) against a turnover of £36 million (50,000 tonnes of steel) in 2013. The company’s staffing levels have also increased from 105 to 145 personnel in the last year.

In addition to its comprehensive range of steel products, the new site in Henstridge is expected to hold in excess of 15,000 tonnes in stock at any one time and will also provide in-house sawing, shot-blast and painting facilities, as well as a state of the art CNC drilling line and plate and angle processing lines.

For more information visit – www.ajnsteelstock.co.uk