Connaught acquires foothold in Scotland

Connaught has paid £2.5m for Maginnis, which is the holding company of JCM, a maintenance services business with 162 employees serving customers in Scotland.

Connaught chief executive Mark Tincknell said: “The acquisition gives us a strong foothold in Scotland and will allow us to compete for contracts arising from local authorities’ commitment to delivering the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. Scotland is an area where substantial growth in this type of work is expected.”

To settle the deal, Connaught is paying £2m in cash plus £400,000-worth of new Connaught shares with an additional £100,000 retention against potential warranty claims. The transaction also involved Connaught acquiring a property in Glasgow before selling it on for £2.2m in cash.

The Scottish Housing Quality Standard aims to improve the country’s social housing stock to European standard by 2015, a programme is thought to be worth around £4bn.

• Connaught also announced this morning that it has secured a £100m contract win with the London Borough of Hackney as a framework contractor to deliver part of the government’s Decent Homes Standard which involves spending a total of £236m smartening up 20,000 homes in the Hackney area.