ANOTHER big move has been announced by Chris Tallis Farm Machinery Ltd, John Deere dealers.

The company is to join forces with with Alexander & Duncan Ltd, of Leominster, on May 1 to create one new agriculture and turf firm, Tallis Amos Group Ltd.

After the merger, both dealerships will continue to trade under their existing names at their branches, Chris Tallis at Hinton-onthe- Green, and Bibury and Dursley in Gloucestershire, and Alexander & Duncan at Leominster.

Having previously merged with Chris Tallis in December, turf dealer Parks & Grounds Machinery, of Bidford, will now trade across all sites in addition to Warwickshire.

The new company will be owned by the Tallis and Amos families, with managing director Ben Tallis based at the Hinton head office and sales director Simon Amos based at Leominster running the company as partners.

The four sites will employ more than 80 people, nearly half of them fully qualified service technicians.

“Both companies have a rich and long heritage and a strong commitment to retaining a family ethos, backed up by high quality customer service,” said Ben Tallis. “We have a combined trading history of more than 150 years and hundreds of years of sales experience across the business.

“This is a good fit for both dealerships and by coming together in this way we’ll be better placed to meet the challenges that lie ahead.”

Simon Amos said: “Our customers will not only get the security and specialist knowledge that comes from access to a dealer of considerably larger scale, they will also be able to continue to do business with the same people and families they’ve known for generations.”