Three core acquisitions on McAlpine’s hit list

Three further bolt-ons to boost the size of McAlpine's growth divisions - infrastructure services and business services - are under discussion, with the average purchase price expected to be in the £10m to £15m range.

A company spokesman said: "We have done seven deals in the past two years. Two of these were anchor acquisitions: Kennedy and Stiell, around which we have built infrastructure services and business services respectively.

"Subsequently, we made five bolt-on acquisitions that built the turnover of each of these two divisions to about £300m. We expect further growth and are in talks with three potential acquisitions at the moment."

An analyst said: "McAlpine had £114m of cash at the end of the last full financial year and £76m at the latest half-year after spending that included £26m to pay off debts and £6m on an acquisition.

"Chief executive Ian Grice wants to make his mark. Investors know that they could earn 4% on the £76m, so their call is for him to make moves and spend the money on new businesses that generate better returns than that."

The spokesman added: "Oliver Whitehead [former chief executive] is group chairman and Ian has inherited the same approach. The company is still evolutionary in its thinking. It was Ian who led on recent acquisitions and they were all in his bits of the group, so the recent policy has been the result of Ian's involvement in strategy."

One of the three potential bolt-ons is thought to be a subsidiary of a publicly quoted company.