Julian Hill, chairman of ARB and director of CSS Stellar, with Paul Gardiner, the former MD of BackPorch and now operations director of ARB.
UK - CSS Stellar Plc has successfully acquired the specialist audio-visual suppliers BackPorch Ltd. They have incorporated them into the event services division of the group, which also includes ARB. The CSS Stellar Group, Britain's largest independently owned sports and entertainment, events and management company, has made a few carefully targeted acquisitions as they expand their portfolio of companies. The addition of BackPorch into ARB will significantly strengthen its existing event services division; in particular, it will add both specialized equipment and staff to key areas as part of the restructuring of the company.

BackPorch, a specialist AV supplier, whose services included signal distribution, sound, and vision systems for an impressive client and event list, including Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship, Stella Artois Tennis, MTV European Music Awards and the Open Golf Championship, to name a few. Paul Gardiner, the former managing director of BackPorch has become operations director of ARB. Other key staff, including engineers and project managers, have retained positions within the restructured business. Gardiner explained the attraction of joining the Group: "Joining the CSS Stellar group offers us more opportunities to expand in today's marketplace with far more credibility. They add efficiency to our business through improved systems and a potentially widened client base. This also offers a greater ability to further invest in equipment and people."

CSS Stellar has an ongoing strategy to create a highly focused events services division, to maximise the commercial opportunities within this market sector. Negotiations are currently being finalised to secure sizeable new premises for the new look ARB. BackPorch bring with them top of the range equipment including closed circuit TV, conference, exhibition and corporate hospitality services. It is the group's intention to centralize all equipment and operations into one, centrally located warehouse facility.

(Lee Baldock)


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