Subsea equipment specialist Ashtead Technology (AIM: AT.) aims to continue its ongoing mergers and acquisition (M&A) strategy after it helped deliver strong results for the company in 2023.
Speaking to Energy Voice, chief executive officer Allan Pirie said: “We’ve seen an opportunity to grow and scale Ashtead technology through M&A by consolidating a fragmented market, expanding geographically and expanding our range of products and solutions.”
2023 saw Ashtead’s revenues grow 51% to £110.5 million, up from £73.1m in 2022. According to the company’s results, its acquisitions of WeSubsea and Hiretech in late 2022 and ACE Winches in November 2023, contributed 17% of this.
Both 2022 purchases performed ahead of their acquisition cases, with WeSubsea’s revenues rising 15% from compared to 2022, and 23% for Hiretech.
ACE Winches results delivered on the company’s expectations, with Pirie noting that he was “really encouraged by how the team have embraced the acquisition and the opportunities that are now coming for the group.
“We always believed that ACE Winches was a high-quality business with really good people and really good equipment, and that is what we found as owners for the last four months.”
M&A strategy
Ashtead has pursued its M&A strategy since 2017, having completed eight transactions since then.
“When it comes to M&A, we believe that we are good home for owner-managed businesses and that’s generally what we’ve bought,” Pirie said.
“We buy businesses, we invest in the equipment, we invest in their teams, we integrate them, we internationalise and we create opportunities not only for Ashtead, but for the people that we’ve acquired with the businesses.”
He added that Ashtead plans to continue its M&A strategy to build the company.
“The key things that we look for in any acquisition is strong cultural alignment with Ashtead,” Pirie said. “We’re looking for market-leading expertise and long-term customer relationships.
“And very often these businesses have got the same customer relationships as Ashtead already. We want to find businesses that are obviously got opportunities to grow.”
“We fully integrate the acquisitions in what we do, which is absolutely key, it’s one brand, one team, one route to market and we’re very close to our customers.”
The company saw strong organic growth in its 2023 results, accounting for 35% of its revenue growth. Pirie noted that this provides a strong platform for the company and its acquisitions to develop.
“We’re not just buying things to bolt them on to the group. We’ve buying things to make the company bigger and stronger, and deliver more value to our customers,” he said.
Recommended for you
