Energy, mineral and waste sector transport company Hargreaves Services has been on the acquisition trail again - with the purchase of AJS Contracts for £4.6m.
The group says AJS - which provides fabrication works, repairs and skilled engineering labour to power stations - will improve both the range and quality of services for its power station customers.
Hargreaves believes AJS will complement Norec - the industrial services and facilities management company it bought in September
2006.
Last September, Hargreaves snapped up Stockton-on-Tees company Imperial Tankers in a £7m deal (MT 20 September 2007). A statement from the company says Imperial is "integrating well into the group".
Hargreaves has bought at least one business a year since a management buyout in May 2004, with the last transport purchase being the acquisition of Gilbraith Tankers in May 2006. And in March 2007, the company paid more than £30m to UK Coal for the purchase of Maltby Colliery in Yorkshire.
The interim results at Hargreaves for the six months to November 2007 showed a 70% increase in revenue to £174.3m.
There was also a 114% rise in underlying operating profit from £4.3m to £9.2m and underlying pre-tax profit went up 61% from £4.4m to £7.1m.
Reed Business Information Limited.©2008
