(Alliance News) - Business recovery and advisory firm Begbies Traynor PLC said Monday it has acquired Ernest Wilson & Co Ltd for GBP4 million, with GBP3 million in cash and GBP1 million in shares.
Begbies said this acquisition "is in line with company's strategy to develop the group through selective acquisitions to enhance our expertise and service offering".
The company said the acquisition was made in cash from its existing resources and through the issue of 1.2 million shares. Begbies will pay an additional GBP1.6 million if agreed three-year financial targets are achieved.
Begbies Trayor shares were 1.3% higher in London at 85.85 pence each on Monday afternoon.
Ernest Wilson, a Leeds-based business transfer agent, reported annual revenue of GBP2.2 million and profit before tax GBP700.000 in the financial year ended July 31.
Ric Traynor, executive chairman of Begbies, said: "Ernest Wilson is highly complementary to our existing services and, by extending our transactional service offering, will enable us to deliver a broader range of services to support business and asset sales.
Begbies has made a number of acquisitions in 2019.
Back in January, Begbies bought property consultant MMXI Ltd for a maximum of GBP4 million and in February bought Newcastle-based insolvency practice KRE (North East) Ltd for GBP600,000.
It added surveyor BSMH Ltd in April in a GBP3.0 million cash and shares deal. At the end of September Begbies acquired smaller peer Regeneratus Consulting 1 Ltd for up to GBP1.6 million.
Begbies Traynor itself has a market capitalisation of GBP108.3 million.
By Loreta Juodagalvyte; loretajuodagalvyte@alliancenews.com
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Begbies (BEG)