Shares in industrial parts distributor Brammer (BRAM) are trading close to a 12-year high, buoyed by a pick-up in European demand for engineering products. Chief executive Ian Fraser notes that his company has "seen a sequential month-on-month revenue improvement throughout the first half". That trend really got going in April and should continue with demand recovering well in the UK, Spain, Holland and Poland.
However, Mr Fraser is also realistic in thinking that the pace of euro demand recovery is not going to be that exciting. So it's time to get back on the acquisition trail where the company is the leader, but commands less than 3 per cent of its market. Between 2004 and 2008, Brammer acquired 20 pan-European businesses and there are plenty of clues (now that 2011 tools and maintenance acquisition Buck & Hickman has been bedded down) that it's back on the takeover trail. For instance, an "experienced" acquisition director has been appointed and they don't come cheap. The company has also agreed a €100m (£86m) 10-year funding facility that might finance three or four acquisitions a year. Net debt at the end of June was £56.9m, so Brammer has plenty of headroom on its facilities.