Companies: HMY   

Marine fluid handling specialist Hamworthy has bought German desalination kit leader Serck Como in a £5.4 million 'earnings enhancing' deal.

AIM-quoted Hamworthy, which had £20 million cash in May when chief executive Kelvyn Derrick said the company was seeking acquisitions, is paying €7.85 million for Hamburg-based Serck Como, which provides desalination plants for cruise ships and other vessels as well as condensers and heat exchangers with onshore applications. In what Derrick suggests is the first in a series of takeovers, Hamworthy is to pay €6 million now and €1.85 million in two instalments, next March and March 2008, for the private German group, which earned €1.36 million (£950,000) last year on €17.6 million sales and is expected to have net debt of €1.5 million when the takeover is completed.

Derrick argues the acquisition will be 'immediately earnings enhancing' and complements Hamworthy's existing waste water business. Claiming 'excellent growth prospects' for Serck Como underpinned by last month's £19.5 million order book, he says the deal represents Hamworthy's first acquisition since floating two years ago and promises 'there will be more'.

Hamworthy boosted pre-tax profits last year 29 per cent to £8.5 million on sales 20 per cent ahead at £137 million and boasted a 71 per cent order book increase to £207 million, before any contribution from Serck Como. The shares, recommended by Growth Company Investor at 233p in May last year, were 10.25p up this morning at 405p, valuing Hamworthy at £175 million, and could have yet more mileage long term.

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Hamworthy	AIM	£91.62m	201.75p	-2.25p
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