Disposal of Peter Brown

Atkins to dispose of Peter Brown to Moss & Associates

WS Atkins plc ("Atkins" or the "Group"), the design, engineering and project management consultancy, announces it has signed an agreement to dispose of the ongoing operations of Peter Brown, its US construction management at risk business, to Moss & Associates. Moss is a privately held construction firm headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Moss focuses on construction management at risk, design-build and public-private partnerships in the southeast of the United States.

As part of this agreement Atkins will pay Moss a cash sum of £2.6m. Peter Brown, which currently employs 50 staff, reported an operating loss of £6.5m, on revenue of £24.4m, in the year to 31 March 2013. This result included losses incurred on the completion of certain legacy construction contracts, the final one of which will be completed in the spring of next year and does not form part of the business transferring to Moss.

Atkins expects to report a loss on disposal of approximately £3.0m in respect of the transaction.

Prof Dr Uwe Krueger, chief executive officer, commented: "The disposal of our Peter Brown business is another step in the implementation of our strategy, which includes the optimisation of our portfolio of businesses. We believe Moss is a more appropriate company to take this business forward and this will allow our North American management team to focus on growing our core engineering consultancy business in the region."

The transaction is due to complete on 30 August.

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Notes to editors

1. Atkins

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies*, employing some 17,700 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. It has the breadth and depth of expertise to plan, design and enable some of the world's most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects.

*14th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2013) and the third largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe (Svensk Teknik och Design 2012). 

2. Moss

Moss & Associates (www.mosscm.com) is a privately held construction firm headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Moss focuses on construction management at risk, design-build and public-private partnerships in the southeast of the United States and is also an innovative leader in utility-scale solar projects and justice facilities in the western hemisphere.

Moss prides itself on a strong entrepreneurial culture that honours safety, quality, client engagement and employee development. Its employees consistently rank Moss as one of the best places to work for career satisfaction.