Lombard Supports Launch of New Leisure Simulators Business
Manchester, June 9th 2008 – S & D Leisure (Europe) Ltd, the Manchester operator of mobile leisure and flight simulators, has merged with two Midland's-based businesses to launch a new company that will run the largest fleet of simulators in Europe.
The Cheetham Hill based company has joined forced with J.G Services of Bedford and Smart Simulation of Leicester to form S & D Simulations. The new business will operate mobile simulators and recently expanded its fleet with the purchase of four new machines, in a £440,000 deal funded by Lombard, the asset finance arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland ("RBS").
The machines, which were manufactured in the USA, include a Renault Formula One racing team simulator and three flight simulators that can replicate the experience of flying several aircraft including a Harrier Jump Jet and the Euro Fighter.
The fleet of simulators will be based at Biggleswade in Bedfordshire. The original S & D site in Cheetham Hill will manage the new company's event bookings and administrative operations, overseen by Managing Director Stanley Reeves. Stanley has considerable experience in the sector having set up S & D Leisure (Europe) in 1990 and has provides simulators for a host of blue chip clients including Ford, Fosters St Ivel and BP.
Fellow directors Jonathan Smart and Joel Gray will operate the simulators on a day to day basis and display the machines at corporate events, airshows, music festivals and sports events. The directors estimate there are up to 50 such events each week in Europe where the simulators could be used and will target as many of these as possible.
Stanley Reeves, Director of S & D Simulations, said:
"It makes sense to join forces with Jonathan and Joel as recently we have had many more opportunities than we could service with our existing
assets and infrastructure. It therefore was an easy decision to grow the company by increasing the number of simulators that we own."
Jonathan Smart, Director of S & D Simulations, said:
"By pooling our knowledge and resources we have a great opportunity to expand the business and offer a better service for our existing clients.
We already have some exciting new customers lined up to use our branded simulators and are about to embark on a significant project in the air show market.
Thanks to our combined resources we can also continue to invest in hardware and software to keep our fleet ahead of the competition."
Richard Fothergill, Relationship Manager at Lombard, said:
"Jonathan, Stanley and Joel are experienced operators having worked in this sector for many years and I'm confident their new venture will be a
great success. The newly enlarged company benefits from greater resources and reduced overheads, which gives them a strong position in the market."
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For more information, please contact:
Mark Lester
Media Manager, The Royal Bank of Scotland
Tel: + 44 (0) 7917 598 585
Email: mark.lester@rbs.co.uk
Notes to Editor:
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group ("RBS Group") is one of the world's leading financial services companies. For the past four years RBS has consistently ranked in the top 10 global banks. In 2005, RBS Group posted total income of £25.6 billion and operating profit before tax, goodwill amortisation and integration costs of £8.2 billion. Cost: income ratio, a key measure of efficiency, was 41.8 per cent and total assets at 31 December 2005 stood at £776.8 billion. RBS Group operates in Europe, the US and Asia Pacific serving more than 36 million customers world-wide and employing more than 140,000 people. In addition to the provision of a full range of banking services under The Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest brands, RBS Group also includes Citizens Financial Group, Ulster Bank, Coutts Group, Direct Line and Churchill.
