Tyrone offsite building firm attracts multimillion investment

Tyrone-based McAvoy Group, a family-owned business, has attracted a “multimillion pound” investment from London investment group, Blantyre Capital.

McAvoy, which has been in business for more than 50 years and also has operations in Cork, Dublin and Oxford, specialises in offsite building projects and is a major manufacturer of modular buildings.

Blantyre Capital markets itself as an investment firm that partners with “European companies in relaunching good businesses with temporary financial challenges”.

Adam Phillips, head of investments at Blantyre Capital, said it was investing in the Tyrone company because the “offsite sector offers enormous opportunities for transforming construction and is a sector in which we are keen to invest”.

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“We are confident in McAvoy’s growth potential and we are looking forward to a highly successful and productive business partnership,” Mr Phillips added.

Under the terms of the investment deal, a director from Blantyre Capital will join the board of the McAvoy Group, but family members Orla Corr and Conor McAvoy, the daughter and son of the firm’s founders, will remain shareholding directors and be “fully active” in the business.

The McAvoy Group’s managing director, Mark Lowry, who joined the Tyrone company from CRH in 2019, will also continue in his role.

Latest accounts

The most recent accounts for the McAvoy Group show that over the 12 months to the end of October 2018 it saw a 24.9 per cent slump in turnover to £44.9 million and reported pretax losses of more than £1.8 million for the year.

At the time the group blamed a combination of “political and Brexit uncertainty” for the slowdown in its performance.

Ms Corr said her family’s company was “extremely excited to partner with a highly respected investment fund that is fully aligned with our vision for future growth and our strategic plan”.

“We have our strongest project pipeline for many years, and in a diverse range of sectors. Partnering with Blantyre will enable us to leverage industry-leading offsite solutions across the UK and Ireland and to continue to develop our award-winning digital construction strategy,” she added.