Braemar Shipping Regulatory News (BMS)

26 Feb 2008 07:01

Braemar Shipping Services PLC26 February 2008 For immediate release 26 February 2008 Braemar Shipping Services PLC Acquisition of Steege Kingston Partnership Limited The Board of Braemar Shipping Services plc is delighted to announce theacquisition of Steege Kingston Partnership Limited ("Steege Kingston"). Steege Kingston provides specialist loss adjusting and other expert services tothe energy (oil and gas), marine, power and other related industrial sectors. Itis one of the leading international players in the energy adjusting market, witha particularly strong reputation and presence in the offshore/upstream sector.Its client base covers insurance underwriters, insurance brokers as well as theinsured parties in the oil and gas industry itself. First established in 1975,the group now operates from offices in London, Houston, Singapore, Calgary andMexico City with a total of 62 employees. There are nine shareholders all ofwhom are employed in the group and will remain so after the change of ownership. The initial consideration is expected to be £5.5 million to be satisfied by cashfrom existing resources of £4.2 million and the issue of 306,513 new ordinaryshares in Braemar Shipping Services plc. The shares will rank pari passu withexisting shares but will be subject to a restriction that they may not be soldwithin two years of the date of completion. Further consideration is due basedon a multiple of the earnings before interest and tax in each of the two yearspost completion and these amounts will be settled wholly in cash. Totalconsideration is expected to be in the range £8.0 million - £8.5 million and themaximum consideration payable is capped at £12.0 million. Completion will takeplace on 3 March 2008. Application will be made to the UK Listing Authority for the 306,513 newordinary shares to be admitted to the Official List of the UK Listing Authorityand to trading on the London Stock Exchange's market for listed securities. Itis expected that admission will take place and dealings will commence in thesenew ordinary shares on 7 March 2008. Following this there will be 20,888,918ordinary shares in issue. In the year to 31 December 2007 Steege Kingston generated consolidated revenuesof £7.0 million and pre-tax profits of £1.7 million and as at 31 December 2007gross assets were £7.2 million and net assets were £4.9 million including cashof £0.2 million. Commenting on the acquisition, Alan Marsh, CEO of Braemar Shipping Services plcsaid, "This acquisition represents another significant step towards our goal ofbuilding a broadly-based shipping and energy services group. The skills SteegeKingston possess will sit well alongside our technical services existingbusinesses, Falconer Bryan, Wavespec and DV Howells, and enable us to offer ourclients a broader range of services." Nigel Carpenter, Chairman of Steege Kingston commented "We are pleased to bejoining Braemar and we can see many advantages in being part of a well resourcedshipping and energy services group. We are particularly excited by theopportunity to expand our current business and we believe that out clients willbenefit from the ability to employ broader survey, engineering and pollutionresponse capabilities alongside our existing professional team." For further information, contact: Braemar Shipping Services plc Alan Marsh Tel +44 (0) 20 7535 2650 James Kidwell Tel +44 (0) 20 7535 2881Aquila Financial Peter Reilly Tel +44 (0) 20 7202 2601Elaborate Communications Sean Moloney Tel +44 (0) 1296 682356Charles Stanley Securities Nominated Adviser Philip Davies Tel +44 (0) 20 7149 6457 Steege KingstonNigel Carpenter Tel +44 (0) 7785 541234www.steegekingston.com Notes Braemar Shipping Services plc is a leading integrated provider of broking andconsultancy services to the shipping industry. Braemar Shipping Services plcSpecialised shipbroking and consultancy services to international ship ownersand charterers in the sale & purchase, tanker, gas, chemicals, offshore,container and dry bulk markets.www.braemarseascope.com Falconer Bryan Pte LtdOffices at the following locations:Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, United Kingdomwww.falconer-bryan.com Cory Brothers Shipping AgencyPort agency, freight forwarding and logistics services within the UK.www.cory.co.uk WavespecMarine engineering and naval architecture consultants to the shipping andoffshore markets.www.wavespec.com DV HowellsPollution response service primarily in the UK for marine and rail operationswww.dvhowells.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange