A St Helens-based business that has served the welding industry in the North West for more than five decades has more than doubled its revenue following significant investment.
Kay Welding and its sister company K Hire, which provide essential supplies, services, repairs and maintenance to the welding industry, have seen revenues increase from £1.4 million in 2021 to £3 million in 2025. Twenty people are now employed across both businesses.
Founded in the 1970s, family-run business Kay Welding experienced rapid growth and moved to large-scale premises in Sutton, St Helens, in the 1990s. It integrated a dedicated repair centre into its operation and allowed customers to hire key equipment, leading to the formation of sister company, K Hire.
Both companies were purchased by entrepreneur, Paul Oakes, in 2021, who invested £750,000 into the K Hire fleet, ensuring it offered the most up-to-date and technically efficient equipment to its customers, and a further £100,000 into rebranding both businesses and modernising their systems and ecommerce offer.
The improvements include the complete redevelopment of the Kay Welding and K Hire websites, including the addition of a customer login area and strengthening website security, while systems have been developed to be compliant with globally recognised standard ISO 9001 and Alcumus SafeContractor.
The businesses’ growth strategy has also focused on building relationships with specialist brands to secure distribution rights in key geographical areas. These include UK-wide distribution rights for Flairmig and Xcel, and distribution rights in the North West and North Wales, for brands including Esab, Mosa, Shindaiwa, Binzel, Wilkinson Star, Instagrid, Thermacut, Portwest, Newarc, Jasic, Weldfast and Specialised Welding Products (SWP).
The business has also become a collection point and delivery service for Energas offering a wide range of oxyfuel and inert welding gas to the North West, providing all welding requirements in a one stop shop.
This is supported by regular offers on key products for industry professionals, only available via their ecommerce platforms, offering hundreds of pounds off top welding equipment brands.
Speaking of the milestone, Paul Oakes said: “When I purchased Kay Welding and K Hire in 2021, it was a well-run family business with significant history, a loyal customer base and incredible potential for growth.
“Through investment into the modernisation of the business systems, its hire fleet, and the development of a much stronger ecommerce offer, which allows our customers to have their own tailor-made account which is accessible 24 hours a day.
“We have already seen significant growth and movement towards our long-term goal to become the UK number one for the distribution of welding equipment and consumables.
“With our expanding distribution network and excellent relationship with some of the industry’s leading brands, we are confident that our customer base will continue to grow, with revenue also continuing on an upwards trajectory.”