Hargreaves Services PLC
17 September 2007
For immediate release 17 September 2007
HARGREAVES SERVICES PLC ('Hargreaves')
Acquisition of Imperial Tankers Limited - Maximum Consideration £7 million
Hargreaves announces the acquisition of Imperial Tankers Limited ('Imperial') a
company engaged in the movement of liquid products, similar to those transported
by Hargreaves Bulk Liquid Transport Limited ('HBLT'). Together, the merged
businesses will be a top 5 player in the UK chemical tanker sector.
Hargreaves is paying an initial consideration of £5.0 million in cash, to be
funded from existing resources. There is also an earnout of up to £2.0 million
payable in cash based on the performance of the combined businesses of HBLT and
Imperial in the first year following completion. Payment of the full
consideration will result in a PE multiple of 7 times current year earnings.
The directors of Hargreaves believe that the acquisition will be immediately
earnings enhancing.
Imperial was a MBO from ICI approximately 10 years ago, since when it has grown
substantially. Around 80 per cent of its volumes are contracted for periods of
between one and five years. Key customers include Terra Nitrogen, UK Bitumen,
Petroplus and Koppers. Hargreaves plans to integrate Imperial with HBLT. Both
businesses operate in a very attractive sector within transport with a high
focus on health and safety leading to higher margins.
In the last financial year, Imperial achieved a profit before tax of £1.35
million on sales of £16.1 million. Warranted net assets at completion are £3.0
million.
Note: Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast or
be interpreted to mean that the future earnings per share or profits of
Hargreaves will necessarily be greater than the historic published earnings per
share.
Commenting on the acquisition of Imperial, Hargreaves' Chief Executive Officer,
Gordon Banham said:-
'Imperial is an excellent and well-run chemical tanker business which is also a
perfect fit with our own business, HBLT. The integration of the 2 businesses
will start immediately and will result in significant synergies and savings. We
view the growth potential of the combined chemical tanker operations as very
encouraging'.
Enquiries:
Hargreaves Services 0191 373 4485
Gordon Banham, CEO
Peter Dillon, Financial Director
Buchanan Communications 0207 466 5000
Tim Anderson
Brewin Dolphin 0113 244 0130
Andrew Kitchingman
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange ND
ACQUSOBRBBRKAAR
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.