Hargreaves Serv Regulatory News (HSP)

2 Apr 2007 07:02

Hargreaves Services PLC02 April 2007 For Release 7.00am 2 April 2007 HARGREAVES SERVICES PLC ("Hargreaves") £4m Acquisition of the business and assets of the Simon Bulk Warehousing and Distribution business Hargreaves Services plc (AIM:HSP), a leading provider of transport and supportservices to the energy and waste sectors, is pleased to announce the acquisitionof the business and assets of the Simon Bulk Warehousing and Distributionbusiness ("Simon") from Humber Sea Terminal Limited for a cash consideration of£4m (the "Acquisition"). The Acquisition includes a contract with ConocoPhillips for the transport andstorage of its petroleum coke production in the UK, together with property andvehicles and the transfer of 28 personnel. It provides an operating base tocomplement Hargreaves existing logistics activities at Immingham and will assistits subsidiary Norec (Industrial Services) to develop further opportunitieswithin the petrochemical sector. Gordon Banham, Chief Executive Officer of Hargreaves said "This is a significantopportunity for our Norec Industrial Services Division to develop relationshipswith a major customer within a strategic location for the Hargreaves Group." ENDS Enquiries: HargreavesGordon Banham, Chief Executive Officer 0191 373 4485Peter Dillon, Financial Director 0191 373 4485 Buchanan CommunicationsDiane Stewart 0207 466 5000Catherine Breen 0207 466 5000 Brewin Dolphin SecuritiesAndrew Kitchingman 0113 245 9341 Notes to Editors Founded in 1994 as a coal haulage business with approximately 20 vehicles,Hargreaves activities have now been transformed to cover mineral trading, cokeproduction, waste handling and transportation, handling and processing ofminerals through its two port facilities as well as specialist bulk roadhaulage. The group employs approximately 1900 staff. Since formation, the group has expanded both organically through winning newcontracts, diversifying into other business areas and by acquisition. It usesits critical mass to create economies of scale and efficiency improvements. Itenjoys strong visibility of earnings through long term contracts. Hargreaves operates through five divisions; •Minerals Division, imports and retails carbon based materials to end users. The Group operates at two port facilities, Immingham on the East Coast and Newport in South Wales. The majority of imported material is for the power generation industry; •Industrial Division, provides quality assured contract management services to the power generation, utilities and minerals industries, including the handling and storage of bulk materials; •Transport and Waste Division, one of the UK's largest specialist bulk hauliers, with a total vehicle fleet of approximately 400 vehicles; •Monckton Coke & Chemical Company Limited, which was acquired by Hargreaves in June 2005, is the only independent producer of metallurgical coke in the UK. It produces 200,000 tonnes of coke per annum for use in the production of soda ash, specialist ferro-alloys and for domestic heating; •Maltby Colliery, acquired by Hargreaves in February 2007 from UK Coal PLC. The mine produced approximately 800,000 tonnes of coking coal in 2006 and currently employs approximately 500 staff. In the year to 31 May 2006, Hargreaves reported turnover of £155m and PBT of£5.5m. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange