James Fisher ups Scottish presence with a £2.1m swoop for RigCool

RigCool provides equipment and services to protect drilling rigs and operatives from high temperatures during well testing operations and also has a sister company in Perth, Western Australia.

Ian Garden, who is remaining with the company as operations director, and fellow board member Quintin Milne, who has left to pursue other interests, are among the shareholders in line for a windfall under the deal which will also see James Fisher take on 2m of debt at the firm.

James Fisher said the business tied in well with another of its niche companies, Scan Tech Air Supply which is based at Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire and provides air compressors, steam generators and manpower during well testing operations

Scan Tech managing director Shaun Ryan, who also took over at the helm of RigCool yesterday, said the two companies would continue to trade as separate entities and there were no plans for jobs losses.

"We will be looking to build up the fleet of equipment here and to grow the business," said Ryan.

He said both companies would benefit from working closer together following the acquisition.

"We have a similar customer base and often find ourselves working on the same rig together."

He said RigCool's Australian base would open up new markets for Scan Tech.

In addition to the rig safety systems, the RigCool technology has been used to protect land-based installations in Australia from bush fires.

For the year to 31 May the two RigCool companies reported a combined turnover of 4.8m, net profit before tax of 300,000 and had net assets of 1.2 m.

Tim Harris, chairman of James Fisher, said RigCool and Scan Tech were well matched.

"We plan to develop both activities in parallel and roll them out to other areas of the world. This acquisition also adds to our presence in the growing market in Western Australia.

Barrow-in-Furness-based Fisher recently reported underlying profits 4 per cent higher at 13.5m in the first half of the year following an "encouraging" trading performance, although in offshore oil services, profits declined by 1.2m to 4.6m as a recent boom in work from the renewables sector in Aberdeen dried up.

The group's Scottish interests include submarine rescue service Rumic, which is based in Renfrew and provides a standby service for the Royal Navy to rescue crews from stricken vessels.

Rumic hit the headlines in 2005 when one of its remote-controlled deep sea rovers helped save the lives of seven Russian submariners trapped underwater.

James Fisher also owns Inverurie-based Buchan Technical Services and RMSpumptools in Aberdeen.

Shares in James Fisher closed up 4p at 494p.