Construction group to make £40m profit from sale of 2,000-strong business
Kier has sold its Mouchel Consulting business to WSP for £75m in cash.
It comes after Kier announced in July that it was undertaking a review of Mouchel Consulting and was considering selling it.
The firm bought the engineering consultancy business in June 2015 as part of its £275m acquisition of the Mouchel Group.
Mouchel Consulting has around 2,000 employees, mainly in offices across the UK and Ireland, as well as a presence in the Middle East.
It reported revenue of £125m and a £5m pre-tax profit for the year ending 30 June 2016. The gross assets of the company, the subject of the disposal, were £29m at 30 June 2016.
The disposal is expected to result in an immediate profit of approximately £40m for Kier.
Kier chief executive Haydn Mursell (pictured) said: “Having completed the integration of Mouchel, we are well progressed with the simplification of our portfolio of businesses.
“The disposal of Mouchel Consulting continues this process and provides increased capital to focus on the opportunities across our core businesses which will underpin the group’s future growth.”
Commenting on the acquisition, Mark Naysmith, managing director of WSP in the UK, said: “Together, we will now be a top-tier player for local and national government transportation projects, as well as in local authority markets.”
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