The acquisition of Autoglass Clinic and Touring Glass instantly catapults the Swedish Cary Group to the second position in the local automotive glass industry, just behind Carglass. With a combined total of 67 locations, Autoglass Clinic and Touring Glass have a significantly larger presence than Carglass, which operates 40 locations in Belgium and Flanders as a region. Going forward, all Touring Glass branches will be consolidated under the Autoglass Clinic brand.
While Carglass currently holds a market share of over 50%, Autoglass Clinic and Touring Glass, with their extensive collaboration network, have the potential to challenge the status quo. The expertise, resources, and ambitious growth plans of Cary Group, combined with the local market knowledge and industry reputation of Autoglass Clinic and Touring Glass, create a promising outlook for the expanded company.
Autoglass Clinic could use greater national coverage. With Touring Glass, it now achieves that in one fell swoop.
New owner Cary Group is an ambitious player operating 1,400 branches in Europe, including in Germany, the UK, Spain and the Nordics. In Belgium and Flanders as a region, the group had not been active until now. Employing some 2,700 people, it recorded sales of EUR 332 million in 2022. That year, the Swedish company’s ambitions received a solid boost when it was delisted by private equity funds CVC and Nordic Capita, which invested around EUR 800 million, or 28 times the profit expected for 2022.
That acquisition price needs to be recuperated through profits in the coming years, which means that Cary Group CEO Anders Jensen has been tasked with generating rapid growth. The double acquisition of Autoglass Clinic and Touring Glass in Flanders is the first proof of that. Jensen: “Scale is very important in our industry. That’s why we need to grow quickly, especially in Western Europe.”
