Integrated property services group, Styles&Wood Group plc has acquired specialist mechanical, electrical and environmental consultancy, The GDM Group Limited, as it continues to diversify and expand.
The acquisition enhances Styles&Wood’s expertise in engineering and professional services, and will provide opportunities to broaden its work with new and existing clients.
The Group has acquired the entire issued share capital of Kent-based GDM for an initial consideration of £4 million in cash and shares, with up to £3.1 million payable as deferred consideration.
Incorporated in 2001, GDM, which is headquartered in Dartford, employs more than 50 staff. It specialises in providing engineering and project management services in business-critical environments, to some of the UK’s largest property owners, across sectors including retail, education, commercial offices and data centres.
The GDM management team has over 90 years’ experience working with a range of blue-chip customers throughout the UK and Europe. All GDM employees will remain employed by the business, which will be positioned within the wider Styles&Wood Group.
In the unaudited financial year ended 30 April 2016, GDM delivered revenues of £7.9 million, and underlying pre-tax profits of £1.0 million. Styles&Wood expects the acquisition to be earnings enhancing from FY 2017.
The deal is the latest development in the property services group’s successful diversification strategy, and follows its acquisition of Keysource Limited – a provider of specialist technical services to the data centre and critical facilities sector – in September 2016.
Tony Lenehan, Chief Executive Officer at Styles&Wood, said: “There is a clear trend in the market towards multidisciplinary service provision for blue-chip clients, and this acquisition builds upon the strength of both businesses, as experts in project delivery in live environments.
“Styles&Wood has a proven diversification strategy which has enhanced our client relationships across our focus sectors. The acquisition of GDM further reinforces our strategic vision, and will enable us to widen our service offering to both existing and new customers, and create new sustainable business opportunities for the Group as a whole.
“As demonstrated by our recent successful collaboration on a new framework agreement, we have been very impressed with the team’s engineering excellence and strong customer base, and look forward to GDM becoming part of the enlarged Group.”
Gary Draper, Director at GDM, said: “We truly believe that this is an exciting move for GDM. The business is in great shape and coming under the Styles&Wood umbrella will provide the Company and all of our employees with greater opportunities for development and an even stronger platform, both operationally and financially, for growth in the years ahead.”
Styles&Wood’s latest annual results (FY:2015) saw the business report double-digit revenue growth (18.6 per cent), year on year to £115 million, and £2.37 million profit before tax, a 308.6 per cent increase.
Headquartered in Sale, Greater Manchester, Styles&Wood provides a full range of integrated property and project delivery services to some of the UK’s premier brands and blue-chip organisations. Its integrated offer includes design, building intelligence systems, facilities solutions and fit-out and refurbishment services which provide clients with the opportunity to optimise the performance of their property assets.