Perthshire firm Morris Leslie Plant Hire has celebrated its 50th birthday by placing an order for a huge fleet of new JCB machines worth £68 million.
The deal comes less than a year after the business ordered £87.5 million worth of JCB machines from the same dealer Scot JCB.
This year’s order includes loadall telescopic handlers, X Series excavators, mini excavators, compaction rollers and site dumpers.
It will also include 50 JCB backhoe loaders – one for every year Morris Leslie Plant Hire has been in business and a product on which the success of the company was built.
The machines will all be supplied throughout 2024 in an expression of confidence in the UK’s housebuilding and construction market.
50 JCB backhoe loaders to mark celebration
JCB Chairman Anthony Bamford handed over the keys to one of the backhoes to founder Morris Leslie – a special Platinum Edition machine produced to mark the JCB backhoe’s 70th birthday.
Lord Bamford said: “We are very proud of our long association with Morris Leslie Plant Hire.
“Like many of our customers, the company has grown from very small beginnings into a force to be reckoned with in the plant hire sector. From one family company to another, we wish Morris Leslie Plant Hire a very happy 50th birthday.”
Morris Leslie said: “Over the years we have bought more than 7,000 JCB machines, so our success over the past half century is very much intertwined with that of JCB and we look forward to building on our partnership in the years to come.”
Scot JCB sales director David Park added: “This significant order for new JCB machines in the company’s 50th anniversary year underlines Morris Leslie’s commitment and confidence in the construction industry.”
Over 7,000 JCB machines bought by firm
Morris attended Elmwood Agricultural College in Cupar and now owns and operates four arable farms in Perthshire and Angus covering a total of 2,000 acres.
He founded his company on his parents’ farm in 1974 in the Carse of Gowrie, near Perth, where he began buying and selling construction equipment.
Today the company has a fleet of more than 5,000 machines across 15 depots in the UK with nationwide coverage.
It prides itself in having one of the youngest fleets of machines available.