Oil sector player acquires 49% stake

OIL and gas engineering services group Plexus Holdings has invested £735,000 in cash to buy a 49 per cent interest in Kincardine Manufacturing Services, a precision engineering company based in Stonehaven.

Aberdeen-based Plexus, which is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market, is taking the stake by subscribing for new shares in KMS, and the cash will be used by the Stonehaven business to expand existing capacity and fund other growth initiatives.

KMS supplies blue-chip international clients including Schlumberger, Halliburton, GE Oil & Gas, NOV and Weatherford, Plexus noted.

The Aberdeen company, which owns the patentprotected “POS-GRIP” friction-grip method of wellhead engineering, said an additional cash amount of up to £150,000 may be payable by Plexus to the current owners of KMS, subject to the performance of the Stonehaven business in the year ending this month.

Plexus said the transaction was in line with its management’s strategy of positioning the group as an intellectual property-led company based around its POS-GRIP method of engineering, “with a design, development and now a machining capability”.

Ben van Bilderbeek, chief executive of Plexus, said yesterday: “As a highly experienced engineering company based in Aberdeenshire with a bluechip customer base, KMS shares many similarities with Plexus.

“We already have first rate IP (intellectual property) in the form of our POS-GRIP technology, and now, thanks to today’s transaction, we are further able to support our programme to expand the application of our proprietary technology throughout the oil and gas supply chain and beyond into areas such as geothermal and decommissioning.”