Same day delivery and technology company Rico has just bought a majority stake in UK company Circle Express.

Circle Express offers a collection and delivery service that is specifically targeted at the UK air freight forwarding industry. It has a turnover of more than £29 million and has a nationwide fleet of 300 vehicles operating out of eight Aviation Security listed depots near major airports at Heathrow, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Exeter, Manchester, Leeds and a cross dock facility in Milton Park, Abingdon.

The company is licensed to carry all classes of hazardous materials including radioactive, toxic, flammable, corrosive, explosive material as well as firearms and ammunition.

Circle Express released a statement on the deal that said that “the day to day operations and management will not change although upper management will have a new reporting structure into Rico”.

Circle Express Managing Director Tom Ryan, said of the deal, “This great opportunity will give Circle the financial backing and work collaboration opportunities to move forward and strengthen its position in our industry.  Rico already have 1400 Sameday Couriers operating in the UK, they are all CRB checked and some also PES checked, so with our ADR training facilities we can quickly up-skill these drivers to ADR capability which is mandatory for our operations, we can then provider a much stronger same day service to our customer base.”

Rico Global CEO Sam Sharma added: “We are proud to bring Circle Express into the Rico business, as it’s a fantastic opportunity to expand our Sameday capability, generating higher premium services across the UK. This acquisition will bring us some more depots to add to our existing 48 sameday depots across the country and builds our larger vehicle and trunking capacity within our operations.”

Rico is part of the TVS logistics Group that employs more than 30,000 people worldwide. It has over 40 branches around the UK and Ireland, controlling more than 1400 courier vehicles daily.