Rok spends £4.9m on two more acquisitions

Rok Property Solutions has paid a total of £4.9m for two construction and building firms in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

Topcon (Builders & Contractors) is based in Grimsby and works on building contracts across north Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire for local authorities, commercial organisations and local developers.

Founded in 1979 by its existing owners, it has 62 employees. Topcon reported a pre-tax profit of £600,000 in the 12 months to 30 June 2004. It has net assets of £1.3m. The Topcon deal cost Rok £3.2m.

Rok’s cheque book was out for a second time, signing away a further £1.7m to snap up Lemmeleg Building & Contracting. Run from a headquarters in Wakefield, most of its construction work is within the Leeds conurbation and West Yorkshire. Lemmeleg also has a commercial property development capability.

Its 107 employees will be integrated into Rok’s existing structure. Lemmeleg was founded in 1978 and latest pre-tax profits, for the 15 months to 31 July 2004, ran to £200,000.

Garvis Snook, Rok chief executive, said: “Our strategy is to be the nation’s local builder. These acquisitions provide us with an opportunity to build a significant presence in the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire regions where we are currently not represented.

“Both companies are focused on lower-risk, community-based projects.”