Manufacturers are duty bound to supply parts for machines no longer in production for ten years after cessation, so as in the car and truck industries a swag of companies exist to tap into this huge market.
In 1964, a chartered accountant on a business trip to Denmark came across a business making linchpins from steel bar, so he borrowed 200 pounds and set up business in his grandfather’s garden in Exeter, southwest England.
Sparex was formed with Malcolm Brook at the helm, and the first shipment of 10,000 linchpins flew out the door to the UK farm machinery trade. Orders increased, and by the end of the first year’s trading turnover had reached 24,000 pounds. Within a few months Brook began sourcing pins made in the ‘Black Country’, West Midlands, known for its industrial heritage, and as well as supplying the UK trade he began shipping parts overseas. By 1968, Sparex was selling an amazing two million linchpins a year, and by the mid 1970s the company was selling 1 million per month.
In 1973 it hit the 1 million pound turnover figure, with exports to 40 countries accounting for at least 70% of turnover. The product range expanded greatly too, and the business opened subsidiaries in France and North America.
In 1982, with export sales to 60 countries and with seven overseas subsidiaries, Brook sold the business to the Wolseley Hughes Group, well known for Lister shearing equipment.
In the 1980’s parts were introduced for tractors, first for Massey Ferguson, then Case and John Deere, and the first ‘wearing’ metal for ploughs was sold in 1996.
The company passed through the hands of a venture capital company until it settled with its current owner, AGCO, which paid 53 million pounds for it in 2010.
The current managing director, Jeremy Burgess, recently commented “I believe Sparex is successful because of its global thinking, and unlike some of our competitors who cover local areas, we cover the world.”
Sparex NZ
- Established in 1987
- Locations in Auckland, Fielding and Christchurch
- 20 staff
- 15,000 product line
- Serving agricultural dealers in NZ and the Pacific.
