How time flies! June marked the end of our financial year and, more importantly, our 50th anniversary since the business was originally founded by the Ainscough family in Standish. Since then, we have grown exponentially year by year. To date, as the AIS Group, we are now over 300+ strong, based across the UK and Europe.
Starting the year off with an exciting development, we welcomed AIS Flegg Projects into the Ainscough Industrial Services Group in 2025. Absorbing our AIS Vanguard London branch, this new member of the AIS Group has expanded our specialist transport and logistics services alongside our core machinery moving services, with a particular focus on specialist medical equipment, injection moulding machines and other niche industrial machinery. Exhibiting at Interplas this year enabled us to take the already well-established good reputation of AIS Flegg Projects and publicly demonstrate how their becoming part of the AIS Group has enhanced their capabilities, making them stronger than ever.
To reflect our growing partnerships and strong cross-collaboration between all Group companies, we revealed our new brand architecture last month. Now as AIS Vanguard; AIS Eurelo; AIS VIG Industrial; AIS Flegg Projects; and AIS Wind Energy, these updated brand identities support our continued growth and create greater consistency across the Group, bringing all our businesses more closely together under the AIS name.
As part of our rebrand programme, we rolled out our new visual identity across equipment and assets throughout the Group, from lifting and material handling equipment to plant machinery, trailers and vehicles. As some of our most visible assets on site, this equipment is often the first thing people see, making it an important part of how we present ourselves. The refresh was designed to create a consistent visual identity across the Group and ensure our brand is represented clearly and professionally.
This year was particularly significant, not only because of the milestones we have achieved, such as receiving a RoSPA Gold Medal Award for 2025, but also because it marked a period of exceptional growth across the Group. This year, revenue increased once again, taking total growth since 2023 to 130%, reflecting the continued success of our strategic investments and expansion initiatives.
As part of our ongoing investment into our wholly owned assets, we continued to strengthen our fleet, transport capabilities and specialist equipment offering. Key investments this year included new tractor units, bespoke-built trailers, tackle and personnel vans, additional hoisting equipment, bespoke tackle cubes and crane mats, further enhancing our capacity to deliver complex projects safely and efficiently across the UK and beyond.
Throughout the year, we have delivered consistently across our key operations while building a robust and secure pipeline of work, reflecting the trust our clients place in us and the capability of our teams to consistently meet and exceed expectations.
At AIS Vanguard, we have had the privilege of working on a wide range of major projects this year. Highlights include acting as Principal Contractor and Principal Designer for Kimberly-Clark’s full factory relocation from the UK to Germany, decommissioning and relocating a ceramics production facility that had been operating for more than 100 years for Shaws of Darwen, delivering over 300 major plant installations for SES Envision’s Clean Cow project, and undertaking industrial installations using bespoke temporary works plans at Hinkley point for Leadwood.
Through AIS Eurelo, we continued to strengthen our position as a leading specialist in cross-border industrial relocations across Europe. A key milestone this year was the appointment of Simon Griesse as Managing Director. Already well known within the AIS Group, Simon joined from AIS Vanguard, where he made a significant impact as Newcastle Branch Manager and Major Projects Manager. Under his leadership, AIS Eurelo is continuing to enhance its European capabilities, supported by the opening of a new Austrian branch, further strengthening the AIS Group’s ability to deliver complex international projects and provide local support to customers across Europe.
At AIS Flegg Projects, Jason Temple was appointed Managing Director, taking over the day-to-day leadership of the business from founder Jayson Flegg, who remains actively involved in his new role as Chairman. Now backed by the AIS Group, Flegg projects has continued to build on its strong reputation within specialist transport and machinery logistics, delivering a number of high-profile projects throughout the year.
Among these was a project at Wimbledon, where we worked in partnership with Vodafone at one of the world’s most iconic sporting events. Alongside projects such as this, our teams have continued to support customers across a range of specialist sectors, delivering specialist transport, installation and logistics solutions for complex and challenging equipment moves.
At AIS VIG Industrial, our teams are continuing to demonstrate their expertise in heavily regulated industries such as Packaging and Canning. This year, the team’s capabilities were showcased through the successful delivery of a major canning line upgrade at Ball Beverage Packaging, which was completed without disrupting the customer’s production operations.
At AIS Wind Energy, we are continuing to evolve and broaden our service offering. While turbine installation remains a core part of our business, we are placing greater emphasis on a number of our specialist capabilities, including maintenance, inspection, and decommissioning services. This repositioning reflects the growing demand for turnkey support across the wind energy sector and enables us to provide greater value to our customers throughout the lifecycle of their assets.
This year, we were also proud to become a member of the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA), reinforcing our commitment to the highest standards of safety, quality and technical excellence in lifting operations. Achieving LEEA membership has further strengthened our credentials within the industry and contributed to securing work with Nordex UK Limited, a globally recognised leader in wind turbine manufacturing and servicing.
As ever, the successes of the past year have been driven first and foremost by the exceptional skills, commitment, and contributions of our workforce. Bringing colleagues together from across the AIS Group for our annual Summer BBQ was a great way to celebrate our collective achievements and continued growth. This year’s event was our biggest yet, providing the perfect opportunity for long-standing colleagues to reconnect and for new team members to build relationships with people from across the wider Group.
As we look ahead, we do so from a position of strength. Our global reach continues to expand, supported by growth across all areas of the AIS Group, continued investment in our people and assets, and an increasingly international presence. As demand for our specialist services continues to grow, we remain focused on developing our capabilities, expanding our footprint and creating new opportunities for our customers and colleagues alike, with further developments already on the horizon.
Here’s to another successful year ahead!