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Road Marking business area / RoadcareRoadcarePoor weather in Great Britain pulled down resultHead office: Bradford, Great BritainMD: John RaineyTurnover 2007: SKr 102(117) millionNumber of employees: 71 (70)Products: Thermoplastic roadmarkingproducts and contractingservices.Markets: Great Britain, Irelandand Portugal.Competitors: Ennis Paint (Prismo)and WJ Group.Share ofbusiness area’s turnoverContracting91%10%Revenue by productThermoplastics9%Nature of businessRoadcare is one of Great Britain’sleading road-marking companieswith nearly thirty years’ experiencewithin this specialised area. As asubsidiary of AB Geveko since 1994,the business has concentrated on themanufacture and application ofthermoplastic road-marking materials.Roadcare has developed a comprehensiverange of products and contractingservices that meet theincreasingly demanding conditionsfor road markings in Great Britain.Roadcare’s contracting business alsoprovides services as part of fixedtermmaintenance contracts (usuallyfive to seven years), which wereintroduced several years ago in GreatBritain. These long-term contractsinvolve the maintenance of motorwaysand other heavily traffickedstretches of road.The British business’s headoffice is in Bradford and the premisesalso serve as the base for one of thethree contracting units. The other twoare in Airdrie and West Bromwich.Formerly, Roadcare’s contract roadmarkingbusiness, Line MarkingsLimited, was limited to the northwith few activities elsewhere inGreat Britain. A focus on cost effectivenessand coordination has generatedgrowth in the contracting business,despite an unchanged numberof employees, and this has resultedin higher capacity and the capabilityto offer a comprehensive and extensiverange of services to customersthroughout Great Britain.Rommco (UK) Limited, thecompany that manufactures roadmarkingmaterials, is located at thepremises in Bradford. Rommco offersquality guaranteed thermoplasticproducts, not only for its associatecompany, Line Markings Limited,but also for customers on the Irishand Portuguese markets.MarketsThere are eleven manufacturers andmore than 200 road-marking contractorson the British market allcompeting for their share of the45,000 tonnes of thermoplasticroad-marking materials used eachyear, which means the competitionis fierce. Great Britain is one ofEurope’s largest road-markingmarkets, although for those in thisbusiness the intensely competitivesituation provides many challenges.As the differences in road-markingmaterials and application methodsare not particularly large, price andstandard of service are importantfactors.British customers know, giventhe current situation, that they canget value for money from their roadmarkingsupplier. However, manycustomers expect even more. Closecooperation with customers, with theaim of jointly identifying innovativeand economic solutions has becomethe norm for Line Markings Ltd.Developing close relationships andbuilding confidence has turned outto be not only successful but financiallyrewarding for all parties. Thecost efficiency that has been achievedin the customer/contractor relationhas attracted the attention of theHighway Agency, the British roadauthority, which rewards successfulpartnerships with further contracts.Outlook for 2008The American company EnnisInternational’s entry onto the Britishmarket via the acquisition of Prismohas further intensified competitionon the British market, which wasalready suffering from excess capacity.The effect is that the British marketnow has a large competitor that isoffering thermoplastic materials atprices only slightly above their productioncost and doing all it can togain a strong market position.Increased competition, aggressivepricing and acquisitions on thecontracting market are creatingunsettled conditions among thecompanies on the British road-32