Marlowe Share News (MRL)

(ShareCast News) - Support services group Marlowe has acquired Hentland for a total enterprise value of up to £7.6m on a cash and debt free basis in a deal that immediately enhances earnings.Bodmin-based Hentland provides a comprehensive portfolio of fire protection and security services to over 1,800 customers covering the leisure, logistics, healthcare, food, public service and retail sectors.Marlowe said its services are "highly complementary" to those offered by Swift and FAFS, which it acquired in April and May this year.The company said the acquisition will significantly expand the scale of its Fire division, offer synergy benefits and provide additional critical mass and route density in geographical regions that are attractive to the group.In addition, it will materially increase the customer base and recurring revenues of the enlarged group with the addition of large blue-chip organisations to which it can cross-sell other services.For the six months to the end of June, Hentland reported unaudited revenues of £5.9m and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of £900,000.The acquisition will be financed from Marlowe's existing cash and debt resources.Chief executive Alex Dacre said: "The acquisition of Hentland significantly extends Marlowe's fire protection and security activities and will further deepen our national coverage. The business is a compelling fit with Swift and benefits from some excellent customer relationships that will further enhance our platform for growth."We believe the deal makes us a top five provider of fire protection services in the UK and we look forward to continuing our strategy of consolidating the market for critical asset maintenance services through further organic and acquisition-led growth."At 0810 BST, Marlowe shares were up 8.3% to 319.40p.