| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Vehicle servicing |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Headquarters | 216 East Main Street, Broxburn, West Lothian, EH52 5AS, UK |
| Key people | Tom Farmer (CEO) Mike Jewell and David Reid (Chairmen) |
| Revenue | £917.7 million (2009)[1] |
| Operating income | £79.3 million (2009)[1] |
| Net income | £-27.9 million (2009)[1] |
| Employees | 10,096 (2009)[1] |
| Website | www.kwik-fit.com |
Kwik-Fit is a British car servicing and repair company, specialising in tyres, brakes, exhausts, MOT testing, car servicing, air-conditioning recharge, oil changes and windscreen repair. They are the leading fast-fit supplier of tyres in the UK with over 600 Kwik-Fit centres.
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Sir Tom Farmer opened the first Kwik Fit centre in McDonald Road, Edinburgh, in 1971. In 1973 the first centre was opened in the Netherlands and with the acquisition of Speedy in France, the company now has over 570 centres in mainland Europe. In 1995 Kwik Fit Insurance, part of Kwik Fit Financial Services, was formed and has since grown to become one of the UK's leading car insurance distributors.
In 1999, Farmer sold the company to the Ford Motor Company for US $1.6b.[2] A decision by Ford to concentrate on its core business led to the sale of Kwik Fit in 2002 to CVC Capital Partners. In 2005, Kwik Fit was sold for £800m to PAI Partners, a leading French-based private equity firm . In May 2010, it was announced that PAI Partners have put the company up for sale for £200m.[3] At the end of 2009 the company had £811m of net debt.[1]
They are now owned by ITOCHU [1] [2]
First shown in 1984, the famous ‘You Can’t Get Better Than a Kwik-Fit Fitter’ adverts made the company into a household name. The Kwik-Fit fitter returned to TV in 2008 with the ‘You’ll Be Amazed at What We Do’ campaign.
In 1990, Kwik Fit received its first national training award. Its apprenticeship scheme is recognised as one of the best in the industry, with Kwik Fit being awarded the highly acclaimed Beacon status from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) for its further educations training programmes in 2009. This was given following a successful Ofsted inspection in which programmes were graded ‘outstanding’
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