Weir Group Regulatory News (WEIR)

8 Jul 2005 11:36

Weir Group PLC08 July 2005 8 July 2005 The Weir Group PLC ----------------------------- Sale of Techna businesses ---------------------------- The Weir Group PLC has entered into agreements to dispose of the desalinationand water treatment businesses of its Techna Division to Veolia Water Systems,part of Veolia Water, the water division of Veolia Environnement. The aggregatevalue of the transactions is £27.7 million, translating to £17.25 million on adebt free, cash free basis. The net proceeds will be re-invested in the WeirGroup's core operations. The companies include Weir Westgarth in Scotland, WeirEntropie in France and Weir Envig in South Africa. These businesses providespecialist engineering design and system solutions in the areas of watertreatment and sulphate removal with operations in the UK, France, South Africa,North and South America, the Middle East and Australia. Together they representless than 7 percent of Weir Group sales. The Division's defence and liquid gashandling businesses of Weir Strachan & Henshaw and Weir LGE will remain withinThe Weir Group PLC. The disposal of Weir Westgarth and Weir Entropie was completed on 8 July 2005when £25.3 million of the aggregate consideration was paid. The disposal of theSouth African company is conditional on approval from the local competitionauthorities when the balance of the purchase price will be paid. Mark Selway, Chief Executive of The Weir Group PLC, commented: "The changing dynamics of the desalination market towards larger scale projectsand a move from design and build to ownership makes this an area unattractive tothe Weir Group. This transaction is consistent with our strategy to realisevalue from our non-core assets and to focus on our core operations. Thiscomplements our June disposal of Flowguard Ltd, our UK pulsation dampenerbusiness in the Engineered Products division for £2.9 million. "The desalination and water treatment businesses, within Techna, have anexcellent track record of developing specialist technologies for both thedesalination and oil industries. We believe that Veolia is well positioned tofurther develop these businesses to realise their full potential and lookforward to a continuing relationship supplying them with our specialist pumps,valves and engineering services." In the year ended 31 December 2004 the three desalination and water treatmentbusinesses reported losses of £0.2 million on turnover of £46.9 million. Grossassets at 31 December 2004 were £33.9m and taking into account the transfer ofthe liabilities to the acquirer at closing, the transaction will deliver aprofit on the sale to the Weir Group. The businesses have a total of 230employees (68 in the UK). All employees including the Divisional ManagingDirector, Paul Capell, will transfer with the businesses. For further enquiries:The Weir Group PLC:Helen Walker Group PR Manager +44 141 637 7111 The Weir Group PLC + (0) 7789 032 296Suzanne Bartch Maitland +44 20 7379 5151Peter Ogden NOTE: Veolia Water Systems is the technology provider of Veolia Water, the waterdivision of Veolia Environnement (www.veoliaenvironnement.com) and is the worldleader in water treatment. A specialist in engineering and turnkey design/buildprojects, Veolia Water Systems creates a range of technological solutions. Withheadquarters in Paris, Veolia Water Systems operates in 50 countries worldwide. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange