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Permatt eyes Yorkshire expansion following rise in sales

Killingworth-based Permatt has announced plans to expand into Yorkshire, following a £0.7m increase in its annual sales.

Celebrating its 35th anniversary year, the fork lift truck specialist is riding has saw its sales jump from £2.8m last year to £3.5m, riding the wave of rising demand to buy and lease Toyota fork lift trucks.

The largest independent fork lift truck supplier in the North East, Permatt is on route to building 400 vehicles in its long and short term fleet of materials handling equipment.

Permatts products include a range of electric, gas and diesel machines from one to forty five tonne that can handle a range of diverse products from fruit and veg, automotive parts, animal feeds and engineered steel.

Established in 1981, Permatt has longstanding business relationships with a broad range of customers across the region, supplying specialist trucks, spare parts, maintenance and operator training.

Mark Percy, managing director, said: “We’ve come through the recession and during the last few years we’ve worked hard as a team to tighten our systems, focus on our customers and the quality of our service and the Toyota vehicles we offer.”

He said that becoming the Toyota dealer in the North East and Cumbria in 2013 took the business to a different level. During the same time Permatt also expanded into Cumbria opening a facility in Penrith.

“As a service business, our growth and success is a good barometer of the growth of our customers and the regional economies in which we work,” said Mark.

Permatt employs 24 people at its custom-built premises on Camperdown Industrial Estate, Killingworth and depot in Penrith. Recruitment and training will continue to be an important feature for the business moving forwards.

Mark said: “We fully recognise we have to invest to maintain high levels of service for our customers while also offering a great quality range of products from a world leader like Toyota.

“Our growing fleet of fork lift trucks means we can be more flexible as a business and can respond promptly to customer demand, whether that’s ongoing growth or a spike in business.”

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