Harrow Green, the commercial moving and records management specialist, has announced that the company is to become part of Restore plc. Contracts have now been exchanged and full completion will take place on 29 February, 2012.
Restore Plc has paid an initial £6.25m for the company, has assumed responsibility for its £5.6m debts and has committed to pay an additional £1.0m in 2015 depending on the company’s performance in 2014. Restore plc has announced its intention to raise the funds necessary through an £8.5m share issue.
Restore plc is an office services group that provides a range of services including: Records Management, Document Scanning, Relocation and Recycling services. Restore also owns Peter Cox, the market leader in damp proofing and timber treatment; and Sargents an office relocation specialist based in Belvedere, Kent.
Nigel Dews, Managing Director of Harrow Green said: “Both companies are very excited about the prospects ahead as we blend the considerable talents, systems and technology of Harrow Green and Restore plc. We will continue to provide our customers with the same market leading service in commercial relocations whilst strengthening our expertise in records management and delivering a much broader range of office services. I am very happy to say that you will continue to work with exactly the same people you have in the past and Harrow Green will continue to operate from its existing locations.”
Nigel continued by saying, “We believe that this is an extremely positive move for both sets of customers and our focus will continue to be on introducing innovation and delivering superior levels of service and customer satisfaction.”
For the 12 months to 31 March, 2012, Harrow Green is expected to record EBITDA from continuing operations of £1.4m (2011 adjusted: £1.3m) on a turnover of £29.1m (2011: £26.6m). As of 31 March 2011, Harrow Green had net assets of £2.3m. As part of funding the Harrow Green debt that will be assumed on completion, Restore plc has put in place a new £4.5m invoice discounting facility with Barclays Bank plc and increased its existing five year term loan with Barclays by £1.5m.
Charles Skinner, Chief Executive of Restore plc, said: “This acquisition of Harrow Green is truly transformational for Restore, and will establish the company as the UK market leader in office relocations, and the third largest provider of records management services nationwide. Harrow Green is a highly regarded company with a blue chip customer base, and there are strong synergies between the two businesses. The addition of Harrow Green will broaden the scale and scope of the company’s activities, increase our base of recurring revenues from office relocation and records management, and accelerate the growth of our other businesses such as shredding and digital scanning. We look forward to the substantial contribution that Harrow Green will make to the continued development of Restore into the UK’s leading provider of office services.”