IN Brief:
- Conagri’s new Hulk MHE division launches with distribution links to Hako, Hoppecke, Cesab, and Noblelift, covering equipment from cleaning machines to heavy trucks.
- The business is being led by experienced material handling operators Aiden Edwards and Barry Gates, with a remit that spans forklifts, conveyors, automation, and warehouse equipment.
- The move comes as UKMHA forecasts a recovery in forklift truck orders during 2026 after delayed investment and shorter-term leasing weighed on 2025.
Conagri has opened a dedicated material handling division under the Hulk MHE name, extending a business better known in construction and agricultural equipment into warehouse and industrial logistics. The move gives the company a broader route into intralogistics hardware at a point when UK fleet investment is expected to recover, but with buyers still highly sensitive to cost, finance, and service support.
The new division arrives with four established brand relationships already in place. Conagri says Hulk MHE will act as a UK distributor for Hako cleaning machines, Hoppecke industrial batteries, Cesab forklifts and tow tractors, and Noblelift equipment. That creates a deliberately broad product spread from site cleaning and motive power through to lift trucks, warehouse equipment, and heavy handling, rather than a narrow forklift-only proposition.
Noblelift is particularly useful in that mix because it widens the division’s reach well beyond pallet trucks. The manufacturer’s line-up spans manual and powered warehouse equipment, counterbalance forklifts, reach trucks, MEWPs, and automation products, while the Conagri announcement also pointed to heavy trucks with capacities of up to 50 tonnes. For a new division, that means immediate access to both mainstream warehouse categories and specialist heavier-duty applications.
Conagri is pairing that range with experience rather than a soft launch. Aiden Edwards has been named head of sales, bringing more than 25 years in the forklift market, including spells with Toyota, Briggs Equipment, and Jofson’s. Barry Gates joins as business development manager with 24 years of sector experience and a remit covering tailored solutions across forklifts, conveyors, automation, and warehouse equipment. Between them, the business is clearly being set up to sell packages and support, not just individual units.
That wider-service position fits the current market tone. UKMHA’s latest outlook, compiled with Oxford Economics, said 2025 was shaped by delayed fleet renewals, rising costs, and fragile confidence, with many businesses opting for shorter-term leasing. The same report forecasts total forklift truck orders to recover by 9.4% in 2026, with warehouse truck orders rebounding by 10.1%. In other words, spending is expected to return, but buyers are unlikely to become careless.
Conagri director Andrew Venton has said the material handling sector is “bucking the trend and going from strength to strength”, and the company is clearly betting that customers will want fewer supplier relationships, broader equipment choice, and a tighter link between capital cost and operational productivity. That is a sensible read of the market. The warehouse sector does not need more generic sellers. It needs suppliers that can stitch equipment, uptime, and support into something commercially coherent.
Hulk MHE now has the task of proving it can do that in practice. The brand list is credible, the market timing is reasonable, and the recovery case for 2026 is there. The harder part, as ever, will be turning distribution agreements into fleet presence.
