James Fisher in renewables expansion

James Fisher has acquired UK based Osiris, which consists of both Osiris Marine Services and Osiris Underwater Engineering. A further consideration of £1.25m will be payable if certain profit targets are met.

James Fisher has also sold its 25% stake in Foreland Holdings to Hadley Shipping for an initial consideration of £11.4m, with potential additional consideration on the sale of two vessels owned by Foreland.

Nick Henry, chief executive officer, James Fisher, said: “We are pleased to announce the acquisition of the marine service business, Osiris, which furthers our presence and widens our offering to the offshore renewables market and is a further boost to our subsea capability.”

Stuart Kilpatrick, Group finance director, James Fisher, added: “We are very pleased to have been part of the consortium which formed Foreland and the initial investment has achieved a good return for shareholders.”

The gross assets of Osiris were £3.5m at 30 June 2013, with net assets of £1.4m. Its pro-forma consolidated pre-tax earnings for the year ended 31 March 2013 were £900,000.

Foreland Holding was set up in 2001 as a private finance initiative to acquire six ro-ro vessels, four of which are under contract to the UK Ministry of Defence.