B.E.Wedge Holdings Ltd is the holding company for Wedge Group Galvanizing and other leading galvanizing businesses throughout Continental Europe and the United States of America.
Records show that John Wedge was galvanising in Willenhall as early as 1869 and the business was established on its present site in 1876. With its head office in the heart of the West Midlands and a history going back almost 150 years, B.E.Wedge Holdings Ltd is a family-controlled company which has a strong, well-established reputation in the European steel galvanizing sector and a growing international presence. Steady progress, with some important diversification, followed but it was not until the Chairmanship of Peter Wedge (1945-1987) that a formal development plan for growth and acquisition was put into place.
The roots of B.E.Wedge Holdings Ltd remain very much in the Black Country. It continues to invest in its home town of Willenhall – and its other UK facilities – but today, it prefers to think of itself as an international business. Led by its current Chairman, Jeremy Woolridge, who became Managing Director in 1974 and also Chairman in 1987, it spread its interests into both Italy (Galvan S. p. A) and Germany (Siegener Verzinkerei Holding GmbH) with investments in 1989 and 1992 respectively. In 2000 B. E. Wedge Holdings invested in South Atlantic Galvanizers, a group of galvanizing companies in the USA and in 2004 it became a wholly owned subsidiary.
In the UK, Wedge Group Galvanizing Ltd has expanded into all key regions, establishing a nationwide network of strategically-sited galvanizing plants. As a result it is the first truly national hot-dip galvanizing group.
B.E.Wedge Holdings Ltd has consistently followed a successful policy of expansion, both in the UK and abroad, while maintaining a steady level of investment in its existing galvanising plants. B.E.Wedge Holdings Ltd also owns Hasco-Thermic Ltd, a leading UK-based international designer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced-technology galvanizing equipment.
Today it actively continues to explore potential opportunities for further business development in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. It keeps a watchful eye out for likely acquisitions in the UK, mainland Europe and the rest of the world, while maintaining a steady level of investment in hot-dip galvanising plant and equipment.
It has recently completed the building of a £6m brand new, state-of-the-art galvanising plant for one of its UK outlets. Substantial investments of this sort are further evidence of the Wedge Group’s position as the UK’s leading galvanising group.