Today’s big deal
To enhance the capabilities of its infrastructure division, construction and engineering group Costain has forked out £17m (US$22m) to acquire a company that specialises in the technology-based monitoring and management of road traffic.
Founded in 1979, SSL provides integrated software and hardware solutions to highway authorities – including Transport of London, and the Scottish and Welsh governments – and employs 165 people. In the year to the end of March 2015, it recorded earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (ebitda) of £2m on a turnover of £15.1m.
Costain CEO Andrew Wylie said the acquisition would broaden the ability of the infrastructure division to meet the “increasingly complex requirements” of its customers – in the energy and water industries as well as the transport sector.
The group expects the deal, which it has financed from existing cash and debt facilities, to be accretive to earnings from next year onwards.
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