Dixon Scaffolding Sold For £2M

Barry-based SHS Integrated Services has bought Dixon Pentland Scaffolding Company – a leading provider of scaffolding services to the energy and heavy industrial sectors – for around £2m.

SHS is a specialist provider of high specification industrial scaffolding and associated services.

Last year it secured a £5,4m equity investment from the BGF.

The acquisition opportunity was introduced to SHS by Grant Thornton Corporate Finance in Cardiff, who also advised on the transaction.

The deal provide SHS with a UK platform for expansion into a highly specialised and regulated market.

Based in Doncaster, Dixon Pentland provides scaffolding services to the power line and transmission industry, with clients including the National Grid.

With an annual turnover of £5m other key customers include AMEC, Babcock and Balfour Beatty.

Founded in 1998 by Paul Smith, SHS erects and dismantles large scale, technically demanding scaffolding structures for clients in the petrochemical, oil and power generation sectors.

It has secured long term contracts with multinationals such as Dow Corning, Murco and Alstom.

Finance director, Gavin Payne, who led the deal on behalf of SHS, said: “This is an important step for SHS.  Dixon Pentland’s reputation and customer base is a great fit with SHS, opening up new markets and enabling us to provide an even more complete service to our customers.

“We shall be continuing to work with Grant Thornton and BGF to identify potential further acquisitions to complement and extend our offering in what is a highly-specialised market.”

Paul Oldham, the BGF’s regional director for South Wales and the south-west of England said:“SHS was the first company in Wales that BGF has backed and our investment was made in order to strengthen the company’s core capabilities, develop a broader range of services and expand into new sectors and geographies.

“Dixon Pentland is a highly complementary acquisition given its reputation in the industry as a well-established, high quality operator and will add considerably to the range of services that SHS is able to offer its clients.”

Chris Burgess from Grant Thornton Corporate Finance said: “Having advised SHS during the finance raising with BGF, we developed a clear understanding of the Directors’ plans for growth.

“Having identified Dixon Pentland as a potential acquisition opportunity, it has been pleasing to work with Gavin and the team at SHS to successfully conclude the transaction.”

Tax advice was handled by Simon Jones, from KPMG, and legal advice provided by Andrew Morris and Martyn Davies at Geldards (all Cardiff based).

The BFG, which is being backed by a string of high street banks, has a £2.5bn fund to invest in growth-focused SMEs in the UK with equity investments ranging from £2m to £10m.

Source: www.walesonline.co.uk