Stobart Group – formed by a merger between ports group Westbury and Eddie Stobart last year – has bought James Irlam & Sons for £59.9m; paid £10m cash for transport engineering specialist WA Developments; and also entered into an option to acquire Carlisle Airport for £15m.
Rodney Baker-Bates, Stobart Group chairman, says: "Irlam is a company with a strong track record for solid delivery and first-class customer service, with an operating ethos very similar to that of Eddie Stobart. The acquisition of WA Developments and the option to purchase Carlisle Airport will enhance the development of our existing operations and provide additional growth opportunities."
David Irlam, chief executive of Irlam, will also join the board of Stobart Group as executive director. Irlam says: "It will be good to be part of a strong group involved in rail and water, which will increase opportunities for our staff. We have worked in co-operation with Stobart for many years and it was a case of the timing and fit both being right."
Turnover at Irlam, for the year to April 2007, rose to £49.5m – up from £42.4m in 2006, while pre-tax profit was £265,053 in 2007 - up from £208,302 in 2006.
Meanwhile, WA Developments, which is owned by Andrew Tinkler and William Stobart, chief executive and chief operating officer respectively of Stobart, has been advising Stobart on its proposed revamp of the Port of Weston in Runcorn. Carlisle Airport, whose parent company is WA Developments International, owns 460 acres of land in the area, on which the group plans to build a new logistics centre, subject to planning permission.
The planned £15m airport deal includes £2.5m in cash and £12.5m in shares. Mark O'Bornick, director of market analysis firm Analytiqa, adds: "The UK air freight market was stagnant in 2007, but that is not to say Stobart is wrong to look at the market. Kuehne & Nagel was able to improve its performance in the UK air freight sector by 18% in 2007, so opportunities for growth are there to be seized."
Stobart plans to raise £75m through a placing and open offer of 57.67 million ordinary shares at 130p a share to finance all the deals. The enlarged firm will have net assets of more than £320m, operate more than 1,300 trucks and 2,300 trailers, and employ more than 3,500 UK staff.
