Spice buys water industry specialist

UTILITY services group Spice today acquired a business which specialises in consultancy services to the water industry in a deal worth up to £5.22m.

Leeds-based Spice has bought Morrel Consulting for an initial cash payment of £150,000 but will pay up to £5.07m more in two years depending on the firm’s performance.

Birmingham-based Morrel was founded by Hagurdial Singh Rai, who will stay with the business following the acquisition. It had a turnover of £70,000 and operating profits of £5,000 in the year to January 31 while net assets were £10,000.

Morrel has developed a software application that assists water companies to indentify unbilled and under-billed commercial and domestic properties and analyses consumption data to identify leakage and under-recording meters.

The firm is paid a percentage of the unrecorded revenues indentified by its software.

Spice chief executive Simon Rigby, said: “The acquisition of Morrel significantly enhances our distribution division’s water service offering and moves us further up the value chain. Through combining our nationwide network of operatives with Morrel’s software application, we are in a strong position to assist our utility customers in maximising their revenue streams.

“Against the current uncertain economic climate, we believe that this is an ideal time to bring this innovative and value added solution to our clients. There are also strong synergies with the work currently being undertaken by our supply division.”