Acquisition

6th Oct 2006 07:00

Keller Group PLC06 October 2006 For immediate release Friday, 6 October 2006 Keller Group plc Acquisition of Anderson Drilling Keller Group plc ("Keller" or "the Group"), the international ground engineeringspecialist, announces the completion of an acquisition in the US. The Group has acquired Anderson Drilling ("Anderson"), which is based in SanDiego, California, and also has facilities in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Denver.Anderson is a provider of heavy foundations, serving the commercial, industrialand public infrastructure markets on the West Coast of the US. Along-established and well-respected business, with strong management, Andersonhas successfully expanded in recent years and its markets continue to offer goodgrowth potential. The total consideration for Anderson comprises an initial amount of around $20m(£10.7m), including the assumption of debt, together with an earn-out based onfuture profits. Anderson is expected to report annual sales of around $50m(£26.7m) in the year ending 31 December 2006, showing strong growth over 2005,and the acquisition is expected to be earnings-enhancing in 2007. The acquisition represents an excellent strategic fit with the Group's existingUS businesses and will facilitate the growth of Keller's business on the WestCoast of the US, where it is currently under-represented in heavy foundations.Together with the previously announced acquisitions of Phi in the UK and PilingContractors in Australia, Keller has acquired three businesses in 2006 for atotal initial consideration of around £25m, adding annualised sales of some£60m. Commenting on the acquisition, Justin Atkinson, Chief Executive of Keller, said: "We are pleased to have completed the purchase of Anderson, which represents anexcellent strategic fit with our existing US businesses and will enable us tobuild on our position as foundations market leader in the US. "Once again, this demonstrates Keller's ability to make complementary, bolt-onacquisitions which, together with the organic development of our existingbusinesses, reflects our strategy for delivering continued long-term growth." For further information, please contact: Keller Group plc www.keller.co.ukJustin Atkinson, Chief Executive 020 7616 7575James Hind, Finance Director Smithfield 020 7360 4900Reg Hoare/Rupert Trefgarne This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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