GSH Group Plc - Acquisition Of AF Worxgroup Ltd.

GSH Group plc ("GSH" or the "Company"), the international provider of bespoke facilities management and energy management solutions, today announces the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of AF Worxgroup Ltd ("AF Group"), a UK based building services contractor specialising in fabric maintenance for a total consideration in cash of [pounds sterling]560,000. AF Group was founded in 1985 and operates through three core divisions, Worxcare building maintenance services, Worxbuild, building project management, Worxclean the original core business of water jetting and drainage work, plus Worxsafe, AF's health and safety offering. Mark Lord, the founder of AF Group will remain as Managing Director. In its last full year's audited accounts AF Group had a turnover of [pounds sterling]5.6m, pre tax profits of [pounds sterling]0.6m and net assets of [pounds sterling]0.3m. The un-audited management accounts for the 5 month period to September 2005 show revenue generated of [pounds sterling]4.6m and with pre-tax profit of [pounds sterling]0.2m. The Board believes that the acquisition will be earnings-enhancing in the first full year of acquisition and provide the opportunity to add further synergies through incremental growth and integration with the existing GSH businesses.

Building fabric services are complementary to GSH's core activity of mechanical and electrical maintenance and represent a sector of the market where GSH see substantial future growth. AF Group has a successful track record in delivering complex maintenance and project contracts for blue chip customers including Tesco. Commenting on today's announcement, Colin Tennent, Chief Executive Officer of GSH said: "This acquisition forms a key part of our strategy to provide integrated facilities management services for our customers. It also enables us to build upon our in-house fabric maintenance capability as well as extending our client base and providing excellent opportunities for cross-selling additional services to the existing GSH customer base." Please Note: The views expressed by our contributors are not necessarily those of CJ Connect, Contract Journal or Mondaq Ltd.

Bell Pottinger

London

UNITED KINGDOM

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