Liquid Fleet aims to double fleet size within two years
Liquid Fleet is looking to mergers and acquisitions, among other avenues, for growth now it has finished its acquisition of the business from its original owners.
It has a healthy funding line already in place and is looking to further expand its current 9% share of the vehicle hire procurement sector as well as exploring new business-to-business sectors. It also provides vehicles into the fleet management and accident management sectors.
Liquid Fleet to double fleet size
Managing director Ismael Aumeerally is hungry to double that over the next two-three years from its current 2,500 vehicles to 5,000 vehicles and beyond, saying:
“We have a strong balance sheet and significant funding lines with five major banks which allows us to look for the right acquisitions and mergers to accelerate our growth. There are many regional and national vehicle related organisations that would complement our current business model, and we will be actively looking to explore those organisations in the next 12 months.”
Aumeerally joined Liquid Fleet as operations director in 2019 and led an MBO which was completed in December 2022 from the original owners. He then became the company’s managing director.
Aumeerally recruited a senior management team to ensure the smooth transition throughout the management buyout – Dirk Van Dijl as Liquid Fleet’s new FD who he worked with at CityCarClub, and Martin Potter who was appointed as commercial director. The pair had previously worked together at Aston Barclay.
During the past two years, Liquid Fleet was able to pay off its acquisition debt seven months early and has created an Employee Ownership Trust which means the business is 100% owned by its employees.
EV revolution
Liquid Fleet also said it has a healthy relationship with the car manufacturers – it now has terms in place with most of the major manufacturers, a far cry from two years ago when it worked with just a handful of brands. This enables it to provide customers with a choice of vehicles that are typically hired from six to 36 months, enabling the business to offer its customers a more diverse range of vehicles.
The business joined the EV revolution early in 2022 but found the rental market was not as ready as it had hoped. Aumeerally said:
“When someone rents a car, they want to travel from A to B with no hassles and we have already seen how EV rental fleets have struggled in the US. That is before you consider that many rental companies do not own their own premises and are restricted at rolling out a charging infrastructure by restrictions laid down by their landlords. Hybrids however are becoming a regular addition to the fleet.”
Liquid Fleet has continued to push lower emission vehicles and while 17% of its current fleet is hybrid (mild hybrid or plug in hybrid), 39% of the fleet purchased in the past six months has been hybrid.
“Hybrids have been a useful stepping stone for many companies, and with connected vehicles giving solid mileage data on average mileage travelled during a rental, we believe this will encourage a greater appetite by Liquid customers moving forward,” said Aumeerally.
