ENERGY Assets, the Livingston-based meter specialist, has returned to the acquisition trail in England with a deal to buy a gas engineering firm for up to around £5 million.
The company has bought Nottinghamshire-based SA Gas Engineers in a cash and shares transaction it said formed an important part of its growth strategy.
Energy Assets, which supplies meters to business customers, said the deal will allow the company to grow its share of the market for providing associated engineering services.
SA Gas Engineers specialises in complex jobs involving installing meter systems for the kind of business customers Energy Assets targets.
Directors of Energy Assets are confident the acquisition of SA Gas Engineers from its private owners will boost the company's earnings in the new financial year, which starts on 1 April.
Chief executive Phil Bellamy-Lee said: "Energy Assets has built a strong relationship with SA Gas over a number of years, working together on several major projects." He added: "The strong SA Gas brand and reputation, along with the wealth of acquired expertise, will complement our existing business resulting in further improvements to the service offering and value delivered to our customers."
The acquisition is the third completed by Energy Assets in England within the last year.
The company took over 154,500 electricity meters through the acquisition of Lancashire-based BGlobal Metering for £2.3m in April.
The acquisition of Cheshire-based Origin for £0.8m in October gave Energy Assets greater control of some of the technology it provides to clients.
Chief financial officer John McMorrow underlined the company's appetite for acquisitions in November. He said then the company could use all of a new £5m banking facility provided by Santander to fund deals.
Energy Assets is making an initial cash payment of £3.4m and issuing 222,108 shares in the company with a market value of £1m to the vendors. The company will pay up to a further £0.5m depending on the future profitability of SA Gas Engineers.
It said the cash consideration will be funded from a combination of reserves and existing loan facilities.
In the year to 31 July SA Gas had turnover of £2.9m. It employs ten specialist engineers and technicians. These will transfer to Energy Assets, which has more than 200 employees. Energy Assets made £3.9m profit before tax and exceptional items on sales of £16.9m in the six months to 30 September.
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