Military Marine is to be renamed Lloyds British Defence Limited (LBD) and will now expand its specialist servicing and sales of marine and industrial equipment through Lloyds’ UK network of 12 distribution centres, which includes Plymouth. Current managing director Derek Foster will continue to head up the company.
Customers of the newly-formed LBD include the Ministry of Defence, its prime and sub-contractors, as well as businesses in the commercial, leisure and fishing industries. Facilities include a fully-approved servicing station covering items such as life rafts and life jackets. The company is also about to invest in a 50 tonne test bed. Further services include the supply of a broad range of marine equipment and bespoke training packages for its target sectors.
Lloyds British Testing’s managing director, Gus Zona, said: "Bringing Military Marine under the Lloyds umbrella is excellent news for all those concerned. The deal will allow us to reinforce our expertise in lifting, handling and training solutions across a wide range of sectors and will enable us to provide the MoD and its prime contractors with the security, financial stability and flexibility of a nationallybased organisation operating very much at a local level."
With Lloyds’ annual turnover now in excess of £20 million, the addition of Military Marine boosts the number of employees to almost 350.
Gus Zona added: "It is our intention to consider further niche mergers and acquisitions over the next eighteen months. The Lloyds long term aim is to build a world-leading lifting equipment engineering group of companies and we are exploring new avenues of business all the time."
