Global expansion is on the agenda for one of the UK’s leading manufacturing outsourcing specialists after it announced a major acquisition drive.
PP Control & Automation, which works with over 20 of the world’s leading machinery builders, is heading towards a record £40 million sales in 2026, with the longer-term aim of hitting £100 million within four years.
This growth will be achieved both through organic opportunities in clean energy, defence and life sciences and the potential purchasing of complementary manufacturing companies in Europe, the USA and Asia. The M&A activity will be led by new CEO Pinaki Banerjee, with discussions already taking place with targets in Italy, Eastern Europe, India, and the USA.
Mr Banerjee, who previously held global roles at Rubix, Hoffman Group and Pilkington, said: “2025 brought with it a lot of global economic challenges, yet we still managed to achieve strong performance across new sectors and put in place foundations to achieve over £40 million sales over the next 12 months.
“Our £40 million target is based on high confidence in the sales pipeline and positive market signals in segments we have identified for growth in the UK. Our higher growth ambitions will come from international markets and customers looking for a trusted partner that offers world class performance and the ability to scale quickly/bring new technologies to market.”
He continued: “Acquisitions will form a big part of our approach. Serving global clients will require a footprint on the ground in key territories and the best way to do this quickly is to absorb like-minded businesses - with shared values and strong manufacturing capabilities - into our group. Talks are progressing nicely with a joint venture in India and a possible target in Italy, whilst there are some interesting routes we can go down in Eastern Europe and via the recent appointment of M&A advisors in the USA.”
PP Control & Automation, which employs over 200 people at its ‘state of the art’ facility in the West Midlands, helps build machines that robotically milk cows, provide everyday packaging solutions, protects phones from water damage and cut parts that are used in Formula One cars and the world’s airlines.
The company has introduced a four-pillar business strategy to support its expansion plans, starting with the M&A activity and expanding through to sales and marketing and operations. Digital transformation is the final element and will include investment in introducing AI further into the company and exploring how PP C&A can support early-stage design with clients.
Mr Banerjee added: “This is a really exciting period as we attempt to move to a truly global strategic manufacturing outsourcing specialist. The UK will always be our headquarters and the nerve centre of our operations, with investment already signed off to implement more automation and to offer significant CPD opportunities and new internal training programmes to our outstanding team.”
He concluded: “However, the time has come to create a network of manufacturing operations around the world, and the search is gathering pace for the right partners. If all goes well, we would like to get at least three deals finalised by the end of the year.”