LONDON (Alliance News) - Support services group Marlowe PLC Monday said it plans to continue acquiring businesses in order to grow the company during its first financial year listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The company, which focuses on acquiring and developing companies that provide critical asset maintenance services, was incorporated in January and then merged with Marlowe Holdings Ltd in March before starting to trade on AIM at the start of April.
Marlowe reported a pretax loss of GBP128,000 in the financial year to the end of March 2016, just before the company's listing on AIM became effective, comprised completely of administrative expenses.
Breaking those expenses down, legal and professional fees totalled GBP43,000, audit fees came in at GBP10,000 and "other expenses," which were not detailed, made up the remaining GBP75,000.
At the end of March, Marlowe had total liabilities of GBP3.2 million compared to total assets of GBP10.6 million, which is almost solely made up of cash and cash equivalents, giving it net assets of GBP7.5 million.
Since the end of that financial year, Marlowe has not only admitted to AIM but acquired a string of companies as part of its "acquisition-led growth strategy" that remains ongoing through a "well-developed and attractive pipeline," it said.
Marlowe has acquired UK fire and security systems business Fire & Security Group Ltd, integrated water treatment, hygiene, testing and engineering services business WCS Environmental, and fire protection service company Fire Alarm Fabrication Services.
Marlowe said all three acquisitions are performing in line with expectations.
"We have made strong progress in implementing our strategy to acquire and develop businesses in the outsourced business services sector with a focus on those that provide critical asset maintenance services," said Marlowe.
"As part of the integration process, we are currently implementing initiatives to increase the operational efficiency of the combined businesses and to take advantage of cross-selling opportunities across the group," Marlowe added.
Trading since the start of April has been in line with expectations, the company added.
Marlowe shares were trading down 3.4% to 170.0 pence per share on Monday.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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Marlowe (MRL)