A new company headed by UK forklift industry veterans David Cooper and Tony Rooney wants
to inject new life into the Samuk forklift brand that it has just purchased.

Samuk founder Sir Neville Bowman-Shaw, who retired early this year, has retained a small
shareholding in the new holding company and will serve as technical consultant, while the end of
the Samuk partnership with Chinese manufacturer Hangcha has opened new opportunities with
Sino-American Zhejiang Maximal Forklift Co Ltd (Maximal).

Cooper tells Forkliftaction.com News that he wants to emphasise that while he and Rooney are
shareholders in Cooper Specialised Handling, the latter and Samuk are not related and will be operationally independent.

"Cooper SH has not purchased Samuk. The shares have been acquired by a new holding company of which Tony Rooney and I are shareholders. I just happen to be the shareholder in Cooper SH as well," he says.

Cooper and Rooney have over 60 years combined experience in the UK forklift industry. Both started as engineering apprentices.

Rooney started as a field engineer and later worked in service administration and service management. He then ventured into sales, sales management and national account management before being appointed sales and marketing director for Briggs Equipment.

Cooper was an engineering apprentice for Coventry Climax in 1979 before joining the sales department in 1982. Following the buy-out by Kalmar in 1986, he launched the Irion side loader line before being appointed general sales manager for all Kalmar products in 1994. In 1998, he set up the SMV UK business on behalf of SMV in Sweden and in 2000 completed a management buy-out. The company was renamed Cooper SH in 2008.

On Bowman-Shaws role in Samuk, Cooper says while the Samuk founder was keen to retire, he wanted to see the transition with suppliers pass "satisfactorily". "Despite his age, Sir Neville is still both an excellent engineer and a wonderful production engineer. This represents a win-win for both the company and Sir Neville that his brief is purely technical."

Other than the run-out of Hangcha stock, which is almost completed, there is little operational change in the business. The biggest change is the introduction of Maximal forklifts, slated for the end of November or early December.

"I think it is fair to state that the new owners inherited a distribution agreement that had lapsed and had come to a natural end for both parties, so it afforded an ideal opportunity to breathe new life into the Samuk brand," Cooper says of the decision to go with Maximal.

The new range incorporates diesel machines from 1-30 T capacity and electric machines from 0.5-5.5 T capacity. With the electric variants, there are three-wheel options up to 2 T capacities. The range is complemented by warehouse equipment.

Rooney and Cooper want to see the business driven by customers and not products.

"The Samuk brand is well-known now, so we wish to build on these strengths, attract more quality dealers and build the brand at a rate commensurate with the acceptance of Chinese sourced products in the UK," Cooper explains.

"The new owners have a desire to be at the forefront of this market rather than be seen as following," he adds.

The company will launch its new trucks at IMHX 2013 on 19-22 March 2013 in Birmingham and wants to expand its dealer network.