PP C&A signals £100m global expansion with new acquisition push

Global expansion is on the agenda for one of the UK’s leading manufacturing outsourcing specialists after it announced a major acquisition drive. PP Control & Automation, which works with over 20 of the world’s leading machinery builders, is heading towards a record sales revenue of £40 million in 2026, with the longer-term aim of hitting £100 million within four years.

This growth will be achieved both through organic opportunities in clean energy, defence and life sciences, and the potential purchasing of complementary manufacturing companies in Europe, the US and Asia. The M&A activity will be led by new CEO Pinaki Banerjee (pictured below), with discussions already taking place with targets in Italy, Eastern Europe, India and the United States.

“2025 brought with it a lot of global economic challenges, yet we still managed to achieve strong performance across new sectors and put in place foundations to achieve sales worth £40 million over the next 12 months,” explains Pinaki, who previously held global roles at Rubix, Hoffman Group and Pilkington.

“Our £40 million target is based on high confidence in the sales pipeline and positive market signals in segments we’ve identified for growth in the UK. These higher growth ambitions will come from international markets and customers looking for a trusted partner that offers world-class performance and the ability to scale quickly/bring new technologies to market.”

He continues: “Acquisitions will form a big part of our approach. Serving global clients will require a footprint on the ground in key territories and the best way to do this quickly is to absorb like-minded businesses – with shared values and strong manufacturing capabilities – into our group. Talks are progressing nicely with a joint venture in India and a possible target in Italy, while there are some interesting routes we can go down in Eastern Europe and via the recent appointment of M&A advisors in the US.”

PP Control & Automation, which employs over 200 people at its state-of-the-art facility in the West Midlands, helps build machines that robotically milk cows, provide everyday packaging solutions, protects phones from water damage and cut parts that are used in Formula 1 cars and the world’s airlines. The company has introduced a four-pillar business strategy to support its expansion plans, starting with the M&A activity and expanding through to sales and marketing and operations. Digital transformation is the final element and will include investment in introducing artificial intelligence further into the company and exploring how PP C&A can support early-stage design with clients.

Pinaki continues: “This is a really exciting period as we attempt to move to a truly global strategic manufacturing outsourcing specialist. The UK will always be our HQ and the nerve centre of our operations, with investment already signed off to implement more automation and to offer significant CPD opportunities and new internal training programmes to our outstanding team. However, the time has come to create a network of manufacturing operations around the world, and the search is gathering pace for the right partners. If all goes well, we’d like to get at least three deals finalised by the end of the year.”