Acquisition

Fisher (James) & Sons PLC
30 October 2003


                           James Fisher and Sons plc
                       ('James Fisher' or the 'Company')

Acquisition of Air Supply AS in Norway and WM Defence in the UK

James Fisher, the marine services provider, today announces the agreed
acquisition of Air Supply AS ('Air Supply') for £4.83m, and the Defence Division
of WM Engineering Limited ('WM Defence') for £3.1m both to be satisfied in cash.
The acquisitions will be funded from the existing resources of the Company.

The two acquisitions are complimentary to the Company's existing and growing
marine support services, and will expand its product range, strengthen customer
relationships and confirm James Fisher's stated strategy to grow its marine
support services businesses, both organically and by acquisition.  The
acquisitions will be combined with and managed by the Company's current marine
support services division based in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, Aberdeen, and in
Stavanger, Norway.

Tim Harris, Chairman of James Fisher said:

'The acquisitions of Air Supply and WM Defence further demonstrate our
commitment to continue to expand the key strategic growth area of marine support
services and we expect that these acquisitions will strengthen this rapidly
growing division, which accounted for approximately 39% of group profits for the
six months ended 30 June 2003, compared with 17% for the comparable period in
2002.'

Air Supply AS

The acquisition of the entire issued share capital of the Norwegian,
Stavanger-based, Air Supply AS ('Air Supply') is for a cash consideration of NOK
57.5m (£4.83m).

Air Supply rents and provides engineering support for large containerised air
compressors and associated equipment used in the offshore oil and gas industry
in the Norwegian and UK sectors of the North Sea. Air Supply extends James
Fisher's product range to supply marine based rental equipment and is
complementary to its existing Norwegian subsidiary Scan Tech AS ('Scan Tech')
with a number of common customers.  Air Supply has recently set up a UK
subsidiary, Air Supply UK, to lead its expansion into new global oil markets.

Based in Stavanger, Air Supply is located one mile from Scan Tech and will be
combined with Scan Tech under the name, 'Scan Tech - Air Supply'.  Air Supply
has eleven employees.  Scan Tech was acquired in January 2003 and specialises in
the rental of containerised steam units, high pressure wash-down units,
compressors, air dryers and winches.  The combined range of compressors for
rental is the largest and most modern of its type and also provides a broad
range of other offshore support equipment.  Customers include, amongst others,
Halliburton, Subsea 7, Schlumberger and BP Amoco.

In the year ended 31 December 2002, Air Supply had turnover of NOK 22.1m
(£1.86m), EBITDA of NOK 12.8m (£1.08m) and after tax profit of NOK 5.5m
(£0.46m).  Net assets at that date amounted to NOK 22.0m (£1.85m).  Air Supply
was formed in November 1995.

WM Defence

WM Defence is a division of the diversified Manchester-based WM Engineering
Limited and has been purchased for a consideration of £3.1m in cash.

WM Defence supplies maintenance and related asset management services to the
Royal Navy.  Its key product is a condition based maintenance system which is
installed in the majority of the Royal Navy's warships.  This system ('MIMIC')
gathers data from the ship's machinery equipment and uses that data to identify
wear and tear and any abnormalities in the equipment's performance.  This
facilitates preventative maintenance and reduces down time.  WM Defence also has
contracts to train Royal Navy employees, undertake installation and maintenance,
as well development of MIMIC.

WM Defence employs ten people and will be managed by James Fisher's Barrow-based
marine support service division under the James Fisher name.  The acquisition of
WM Defence strengthens James Fisher's relationship with one of its key
customers, the Royal Navy, in the area of marine maintenance in which it has
considerable expertise.

In the year ended 31 July 2003 WM Defence had operating profit of £563,000
(after all direct costs including overheads).

EC Hambro Rabben & Partners acted as corporate finance advisor to James Fisher.


ENDS

For further information, please contact:

James Fisher and Sons plc                            Binns & Co PR
Tim Harris, Chairman                                 Peter Binns
Angus Buchanan, Chief Executive                      Paul McManus
Michael Shields, Finance Director                    Tel: [phone]
Tel: [phone]                                   Mob: [phone]

EC Hambro Rabben & Partners
Eivind Rabben
John Cook
Tel: [phone]


Editor's Notes:

Marine Support Services Division

In the Chairman's Statement at the last Interim Results, announced 27 August
2003, Mr. Harris said in his Chairman's Statement, reviewing the Marine Support
Services Division:

'Operating profits grew by 164% to £4.34 million (of total group operating
profit of £8.82m (2002: £7.36m)), up 20%, emphasizing the growing importance of
Marine Support Services to the Company.  These include our 25% share of the
operating profit of AWSR, the MoD's Strategic Sealift Service. The return on
capital continues to be excellent, both before and after goodwill.

Our MoD related businesses continue to grow well supported by an increased
investment in sales and marketing and technical backup.  James Fisher Rumic
Limited, which manages the Royal Navy's submarine rescue service, had a good
first half and has been joined by the world's leading RoV operator, Oceaneering
International Inc, the design integrator for current replacement of the US
submarine system, to bid for the new NATO submarine rescue service scheduled to
be in service for 2006/7.  Initial profits from our small Ocean Fleets
investment were well above expectations.  AWSR now has all six vessels in
service with the two commercial vessels on charter until late 2005 to a
Scandinavian operator.

The North Sea businesses, which now trade under the Scan Tech name, had a good
first half.  In Norway both the rental and engineering sales sectors performed
strongly whilst in Aberdeen both these sectors were quieter, but the
HydroDigger, after some modification, has begun to prove itself both technically
and financially.  We are taking steps to draw the synergies from the Norwegian
acquisition by strengthening the sales and marketing in Aberdeen and expanding
the product range.

The acquisition of Rumic's nuclear decommissioning business has broadened our
relationship with British Nuclear Fuels plc for whom we manage seven vessels and
provide other technical support services.'

In its Annual Report and Financial Statements 2002, the Company said that '2002
was a good year for James Fisher in terms of financial performance and in
establishing it as a marine services provider'.  The Company also stated that
the expansion of marine services would benefit 2003 results, following the
acquisition of Rumic Limited in October 2002; the acquisition of Ocean Fleets in
November 2002; and the acquisition of Scan Tech in January 2003.




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange