With the acquisition of window profile manufacturer WH Smith & Sons Extrusions (WHS, Water Orton Lane, Minworth, GB-Sutton Coldfield B7G 9BG) for £ 35m, Bowater plc (Bowater House, Knightsbridge,. GB-London, SW1X 7NN), has added considerable strength to its own growing profile business. The deal, which calls for a further performance-related payment of up to £ 5m, moves the Bowater Windows group into the number one slot in the UK, where it previously had an estimated 10% of the residential window market. WHS is believed to control around 10% of the public sector market.

With annual sales of £ 160m, Bowater's window business is based mainly in the UK and in Germany, from where it has built up a business in eastern Europe. Finance director Michael Hartnall said the acquisition of WHS was prompted not only by an interest in moving into the commercial window sector, but also by the exchange-rate related high cost of drawing extruded window frames from Germany for sale in the UK market.

Some changes will be in store for the German side of the business, where Bowater over the past three years has invested DM 27m. The group is represented there by the holding Wickrather Bauelemente AG (Bahnhofstr. 49, D-51491, Overath-Untereschbach), to which extruder Roplasto Fensterprofile GmbH (Refratherweg 42-44, D-51469 Bergisch-Gladbach) and plastic window and door manufacturer Dyna-Plastik GmbH (D-55481 Kirchberg) belong. In the medium term, WHS will take over extrusion of profile systems for the UK market previously handled by other German firms under contract. Profiles supplied to the UK by Roplasto will not be affected.

READER SERVICE: Bowater Annual Report 1993: PIE-No. 37146.