Sale of The Railway Engineering Company Limited

RNS Number : 9745T

Fisher (James) & Sons plc

20 December 2012

James Fisher and Sons plc (FSJ.L) ("JFS")

Sale of The Railway Engineering Company Limited ("TRE")

James Fisher and Sons plc today announces the sale of The Railway Engineering Company Limited to Hitachi Europe Ltd for a total consideration of £25.5 million in cash payable at completion. The transaction is expected to complete on 31^st December 2012.

TRE was acquired in October 2006 when JFS purchased Strainstall Group Limited. TRE supplies signaling simulators and automatic routing systems for use on the railway networks. TRE reported profit before tax of £2.0 million for the year ended 31^st December 2011 and had net assets of £2.1 million and gross assets of £4.1 million on 30^th June 2012. The net proceeds will be used initially to reduce borrowings and will facilitate further investment and potential bolt-on acquisitions into the Group's marine service divisions.

Nick Henry, CEO of JFS said:

"TRE has been a successful and rapidly growing business during its time with James Fisher. Its future prospects will be greatly enhanced by this combination with Hitachi, a large international engineering and railway company. The growth of TRE is a credit to the efforts and expertise of its staff and we wish them every success in the future."

E C Hambro Rabben & Partners acted as corporate finance adviser to JFS.

Contacts:

James Fisher and Sons plc

Nick Henry

Chief Executive Officer

020 7614 9508

EC Hambro Rabben & Partners

Eivind Rabben

Peter Donald

020 7355 4100

FTI Consulting

Richard Mountain