Harkness in £6.75m MBO

Stevenage-based Harkness Screens, the 80 year old specialist manufacturer of large cinema screens, has been bought out by the management in a deal believed to be worth around £6.75 million from Irish equity firm, Allen McGuire & Partners.Stevenage-based Harkness Screens, the 80 year old specialist manufacturer of large cinema screens, has been bought out by the management in a deal believed to be worth around £6.75 million from Irish equity firm, Allen McGuire & Partners.

Harkness Screens was started as a private company in the 1920s in the UK by Andrew Harkness. In 2005, more than 7,000 large screens were supplied to more than 50 countries.

The main application is still cinema though Harkness now supplies projection screens for a host of other applications, including the fast growing home cinema market. The group employs 80 people in four countries in the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of its screens and related products.