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French connection

24 Mar 14 Altrad remains a relatively new name to the UK market but it has been making inroads in scaffolding hire and sales.

Altrad, a French company that has grown rapidly mainly through acquisition, entered the UK about five years ago since when it has bought out several well-known brands, each with complementary activities mainly in scaffolding.

Belle – well known for its concrete mixers but not a scaffolding company – was bought in 2009. Then came Essex- based Beaver 84 and Northern Scaffold Group (NSG) in 2011; MTD Scaffolding and Generation Hire & Sales joined in 2012 followed by Trad Scaffolding and Manchester-based Spectra Scaffolding (now part of NSG) last year.

Each of these companies, with the exception of Belle, has a significant share of the scaffolding hire and sales market in the UK, meaning that Altrad is now a major UK player. But whereas many acquisitive companies might amalgamate, absorb and rationalise these businesses under its own corporate flag, Altrad’s strategy is to let them continue almost unchanged.

Each company retains its own existing identity, the Altrad name barely visible on any corporate branding, websites or literature. Only NSG has adopted the Altrad logo and rebranded as Altrad NSG; Beaver 84, MTD, Generation and Trad all retain their pre-existing branding and identity. Each also continues to run its own affairs which means that they remain mutually competitive, which has disadvantages as well as benefits. A bit of internal competition keeps everybody on their toes but each also has its own loyal customer base. A rising market offers opportunities to build market share, but that has questionable value to the parent company if one arm of the business is taking business from another.

Altrad’s distinctive style of devolved management is a fundamental characteristic of chairman Mohed Altrad’s business philosophy, which he has set out in a detailed and very scholarly 400-page book entitled “Management of an International Group in the Face of Multiculturalism” (available as a series of pdf downloads on the Altrad Group website).

In a nutshell, Altrad aims to create a multicultural, collegiate group of companies built on a ‘matrix’ structure – which means embracing differences rather than imposing a centralised corporate style.

That is not to say there is no leadership. The Altrad Group companies aren’t each doing their own thing; they are all doing the same thing but in their own way, a subtle but crucial distinction. Senior managers - rivals out in the marketplace - are colleagues in the boardroom and meet regularly. For businessmen unused to such an original approach, this can be an uncomfortable experience. “Altrad wants every company to grow and improve, but he expects them to all grow at the same rate,” says one Altrad insider. “I’m not sure that’s possible.” When an acquisitive international corporation starts buying up chunks of a particular industry, this is usually the start of a process of rationalisation as erstwhile rivals are merged and reshaped. 

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That doesn’t seem to be Altrad’s style at all, though as one commentator observed: “If one of the companies starts to fall behind the others, they’ll have to do something.” 

Altrad's exotic origins

“Altrad” sounds like an invented name – perhaps because of its similarity to Sir Alan Sugar’s Amstrad – but it’s actually the name of its founder, Mohed Altrad (above). Altrad was born into a nomadic Bedouin tribe somewhere in Syria during the late 1940s or early ‘50s – he claims not to know his age or place of birth. Orphaned very young, he received no elementary schooling but taught himself to read and write before going to secondary school to study for his Baccalaureate.

He then won a scholarship to study in France where he proved to be an able student. He has a PhD in computer science.

After several years working in computers with Alcatel, Thompson and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, he set up an IT company with a business partner before selling out to French technology group Matra.

Altrad launched his current business empire in 1985 when he bought Hérault, a French SME specialising in scaffolding

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