Landmark acquisition for Wates Group

Wates Group – the family-owned construction and property services company – has today announced the acquisition of Shepherd Engineering Services and Shepherd FM, in addition to a number of significant contracts and strategic frameworks from Shepherd Construction Limited.

Envisaged as a means of enhancing Wates’ existing construction and property services offering, the acquisition will provide the Company with additional technical and specialist construction expertise alongside a nationwide facilities management portfolio. The deal will also enable Wates to strengthen its geographical footprint while forging valuable inroads into new markets in the North and North West.

The move, which follows the acquisition of the Walsall-based Purchase Group last November, is fundamental to Wates Group’s aspirations for the future. The Company hopes to double its turnover to £2Bn as part of a programme of strategic growth.

Wates Group is already accelerating towards this ambitious turnover target. The Company’s focus on existing core markets has propelled work-in-hand to its highest in five years while its £3Bn forward order book is up 50% on last year.

Andrew Davies, Chief Executive of Wates Group, commented: “Today’s acquisition marks another step towards Wates becoming the UK’s leader in the construction and property services sector, now boasting a distinct and outstanding engineering capability, offsite manufacturing proficiency and technical expertise in specialised construction projects.

“Our investment is expected to deliver an additional circa £300M in turnover in the first year of trading, projecting us further towards our £2Bn target and making great strides in the fulfilment of our long-term growth strategy.

“The deal is underpinned by a collective commitment to strong values of integrity, performance and respect from both organisations; shared principles that are built on a long-standing family heritage.

“We are now preparing to welcome more than 1,200 new colleagues to the business and our immediate priority is to ensure the engagement and alignment of our people, whilst remaining focussed on maintaining our reputation for excellent customer service.”

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