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A 140-year-old Shropshire-based agricultural and groundcare equipment provider is set for growth after being bought by two of its managers.

FHB Holdings, which trades as Burgess supplying equipment, such as tractors, mowers, workwear and chainsaws, has been acquired by Jonathan Budd and Greg Duce.

Budd and Duce, who joined the company 12 years ago, completed the deal after securing funding from HSBC, but the terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

The duo decided to buy FHB after realising that further investment was needed to grow the business. They knew that only a change at the top could bring that and put in a bid to buy the company.

“It was like trying to run a business with our hands tied behind our backs,” Budd said. “But then in 2006 the shareholders acknowledged that there needed to be a change of ownership if Burgess was to progress.”

This led to six months of negotiations with FHB’s 160 shareholders, but now that the deal has successfully closed Budd and Duce are planning to expand its ground-care equipment business.

FHB supplies its products to farms, councils, utility companies, landscapers and the general public. It also provides a spares and repair service. The company is based in Shrewsbury and has 100 staff at branches across Shropshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire and Wales.

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