Office and General acquires The Cleaning Company

01 July 2008

Office and General Environmental Services Ltd has strengthened its presence in the Midlands with the acquisition of Wolverhampton-based, The Cleaning Company, which has contracts in retail, transport, waste disposal and doctors and dentist surgeries.

This move makes Office and General one of the largest independent cleaning and support service providers in the Midlands with a mix of commercial and retail clients. The Cleaning Company services include ommercial carpet cleaning, washroom hygiene, floor maintenance, window cleaning and janitorial supplies.

The Cleaning Company was established 12 years ago by Carol Fellows, and has grown from small beginnings to a strong, profitable company. "When I first set up The Cleaning Company I ran it from home, I did not borrow any money from the bank and all profits were ploughed back in - taking on staff and
buying equipment," she said. "I started by knocking on the doors of businesses to get clients, but 12
months later we had moved to our base at the Saturn Centre. When I sold The Cleaning Company to Office and General, we had more than 80 staff on site,vfour mobile cleaning units and office staff servicing our clients.²

The sale to Office and General will enable Carol to retire and take a long overdue holiday.

Grae Scott, Managing Director of Office and General comments: "The Midlands is a major market for us and we have serviced customers in the area for years. However, as our business has grown, we felt we needed a more substantial local presence to be able to fully service our customers - our acquisition
of The Cleaning Company puts us in a better position to do this. We aim to develop the business substantially over the next few years. We have an excellent team in place supported by a major programme
of investment.²