Peterhouse acquisition brings Babcock success

Peterhouse's two rail divisions - track renewal and signalling - have both turned in strong performances so far this year, said Bill Tame, Babcock's finance director.

Babcock acquired Peterhouse two years ago. "People thought we'd bought it on the cheap and they're dead right," said Tame. "Our track renewal workload is currently the strongest we've seen and the signalling division is also very strong, albeit on the back of weaknesses last year.

"Turning to Eve and the transmission sector, with National Grid expected to double its expenditure on its network in the next two or three years, we're bullish about that.

"When we bought Peterhouse, we sensed that the high-voltage market was about to take off and we've been proved right."

Babcock now faces something of a rebranding dilemma over the trading names it acquired through Peterhouse. "Both First Engineering and Eve are strong brands," said Tame. "As a group, we have the Babcock name, which is itself strong, although a name change is not anything we need to do now."

[Contract Journal, 19 July 2006, p. 2]