Winncare products have proven essential to British healthcare services, but its latest acquisition could make the company even more vital.
Winncare’s products can be found on every single ambulance in the UK. Its inflatable lifting device, the Elk lifting cushion, is an invaluable tool for safely lifting fallen patients. Winncare is a medical device manufacturer that specialises in post-fall management and pressure area equipment. It distributes its products all over the world from its manufacturing sites in the UK, Spain, France and Poland.
And now the company is expanding.
“We recently bought a new organization, Herida, that adds to our product portfolio and capabilities,” says Simon Claridge, CEO of Winncare.
It is an acquisition that will add to Winncare’s key selling point as a UK-based manufacturer. It will allow the company to expand its size as a healthcare organization in the UK.
“We wanted to expand our product range into pressure area care and mattresses, which is what Herida specialize in as an organization,” says Claridge. “From a UK specification perspective, it is better to have UK-made products, so the acquisition made sense for a variety of reasons.”
Herida and Winncare operate in the same space and customer group, with similar channels, similar customers and a similar product area.
“I think when you make an acquisition, you are looking for complementary skills,” says Clare Birt, Winncare’s Marking Director. “We have got a really strong management team like Herida, our skills complement each other. Combining with them means we can expand our offering and be dynamic and agile about what we offer customers. We see lots of growth opportunities.”
Compatible Visions
Of course, serving similar markets and having compatible capabilities is one thing, but to take two separate companies and combine them into a single business also means making sure the cultures of both businesses gel.
“That was part of our due diligence. We went through a really thorough process,” Claridge says. “We felt there was a similar culture, and that both organisations had shown a similar path in terms of growth over the last few years. Both businesses were delivering double-digit growth, bringing new products to market, and working with customers to deliver products that provide real innovation.”
Claridge identified a real synergy between the organisations, as well as a common culture orientated towards putting the customer at the heart of what each business does.
“We share the same hard work ethic, and we’re on a journey now to build on that culture and create an organization that delivers the growth our shareholders require,” Claridge says.
Of course, that did not mean that there wasn’t work to do.
“The first appointment we have made is an HR manager who just started today,” Birt points out. “One thing we know as an organisation is that communication with staff is essential. Ensuring they know why we are doing what we are doing is vital to performance. We are proud of our staff, and of our good retention rate, and that is because we are very transparent. The talent we have and their continuing development is a priority to be focused on, so the appointment of an HR manager was important to us.”
The B Team
This is just one of the reasons why Winncare is working towards B Corp Certification. B Corp Certification originated in the US, but now has a presence in Europe. It is a standard dependent on how well a business looks after its staff, its sustainability measures, health and safety, and its carbon footprint, among other factors. Winncare is going through the process to attain B Corp certification.
“There are a lot of points to try and achieve, but it is something we are committed to,” Birt says. “It is about the well-being of your team and measuring that with policies in place so that you aren’t just paying lip service.”
Achieving this certification, alongside the Herida acquisition, is just one part of a strategy to realise Winncare as a total healthcare solution provider.
“We now offer not just mattresses to hospitals, but a rental model that allows hospitals and long-term care homes to purchase or rent,” Claridge explains. “We offer a decontamination service that launders equipment and takes it back, to service a wide range of different equipment. Really, we are building an organisation within the UK that offers a full service for healthcare organisations. We will continue to build that organisation through organic growth and acquisition.”
In every part of the business, Winncare is working with its Group colleagues to strive for excellence. Herida’s acquisition will help in that, but Winncare is also familiar with the other side of acquisitions.
“As a private equity company, we have had a steep learning curve the last six or seven years,” Claridge says. “We have been purchased a couple of different times and we learned from that how to do better each time.”
And Claridge is frank about the fact that Winncare’s efforts will also help make the company appealing for its next acquisition.
“We are starting a commercial excellence project across the organisation to make us more attractive for a potential sale,” says Claridge. “We are operating really effectively, constantly trying to improve while building on our core specialisms of pressure area care and post-fall management. Those two areas specifically make us stand out from our competitors.”
The acquisition of Herida will help Winncare step up in the healthcare marketplace among its peers.
“We have had great meetings with key customers who are delighted by our businesses coming together because of what we can offer them,” Birt tells us. “It is an exciting time, as we step up into a place where we are more of an annoyance to our competitors and become a lot more visible. I would like to see that go even further, not just in revenue but in how we perform as an organization.”
Continuous improvement remains at the core of Winncare’s approach, with a culture about doing things better than it did the day before.
