Marine company swoops for engineering firm in £14.6m deal

Barrow-in-Furness marine services specialist James Fisher & Sons has swooped to buy East Lancashire-based high voltage engineering company EDS in deal worth £14.6m.

Fisher will pay £9m up front with potential for further funds of up to £5.6m subject to profit targets for the two years ending September 30, 2019.

Rossendale-headquartered EDS provides a complete range of high voltage engineering services to the renewables industry, covering the design and installation stages of new wind farm construction projects through to the subsequent monitoring-fault management, repair and maintenance of the operating assets.

Adjusted earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of EDS for the year ended  September 30, 2017 were £1.8m, unaudited profit after tax was £1.2m and unaudited gross assets were £6m.

Fisher chief executive Nick Henry said: “The acquisition of EDS provides James Fisher with sector leading high voltage engineering capability, further broadening the group’s offering to the offshore wind farm sector.”