James Fisher in £33m deal as profits leap
MARINE Services group James Fisher has acquired an Aberdeen-based oil industry supplier in a deal worth £33m.
It is buying Divex which designs diving equipment used by the offshore oil industry and other sectors, including the military.
It has agreed to pay £20m in cash and a further £13m based on performance targets.
The deal was announced as the Barrow-in-Furness-based group posted an 18% rise in full-year revenues to £363.3m.
Pre-tax profits jumped 57% to £46.7m helped by a contribution of £11.3m from December’s £25m sale of the Railway Engineering Company to Hitachi. After stripping this out profits were up 18% to £35.3m.
The acquisition of Divex comes a month after James Fisher completed a £30m refinancing which it said would help it target emerging markets. Divex has 240 staff based in Aberdeen, Australia, South Africa and Dubai.
In the year to November 30 turnover was £34.2m with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £4.6m. Net assets at the same date were £13.6m. Divex’s biggest shareholders and joint managing directors, Derek Clarke and Doug Godsman, will stay on.
James Fisher’s chief executive Nick Henry said: “Divex is a market leader in diving equipment for the oil and gas, and defence sectors. It is also the global leader in the design of saturated diving systems, which is a growing market. We believe that it will fit well with our group both in terms of its market, customers and geographical spread.”
James Fisher began as a regional shipping firm in 1847 and now operates globally serving a range of sectors such as nuclear and oil and gas. The group said strong organic growth came from focusing on high growth markets outside the US and continental Europe.
