Hewden Stuart plc, the equipment hire arm of Finning Group (UK) Ltd, has announced the sale of its Hoists business to HTC Plant Ltd, part of the PC Harrington Group. The agreement, which was signed on 21st December 2007, is in line with Hewden's stated strategy of increasing focus on core business areas where it has already built, or intends to build, a market leadership position. The sale of the Hoist's business follows the sale of the Tools business in June this year.

Brian Sherlock, Director, Hewden Stuart plc said: "Hewden is the UK's number one construction equipment rental company and we intend to grow our lead by focusing on being a national provider of heavy duty plant and construction equipment, with a particular emphasis on Caterpillar and a select range of other complementary leading manufacturers. Hoists was an obvious selling opportunity for us, given that it is a highly successful, specialised and stand-alone area of business but not part of the core Hewden service offering and is only available in three of our UK depots.

"The transfer to HTC is a good outcome for our hoists employees, with all staff able to transfer over"

The Hoists business operates from three sites in Chawston (Bedfordshire), Dewsbury and Glasgow, comprising a plant list of more than 300 hoists and approximately 250 customers nationwide. All 75 staff from Hewden's Hoists business will be transferring to HTC Plant Ltd when the sale completes on 31st January 2008.

Finning Group UK is committed to its continuing UK operations and to further growing revenues through the provision of best operations, best value pricing, best service and best equipment in the UK market.