Engineer announces strategic review that puts it in a formal β€œoffer period”

Paul Hamer

WYG chief executive Paul Hamer

WYG has announced it is considering a range of options to β€˜take full advantage of its growth potential’ as part of a review that could recommend the sale of the business, a merger, strategic partnership or new borrowing agreements.

In a statement to the London Stock Exchange the business said it was achieving strong growth and β€œcreating almost more opportunities than it can readily service directly” under its existing growth model.

The business completed a financial restructuring in 2011 that implemented a strategy of refocusing operations with a strong international-development capability.

WYG said it had achieved a turnaround in profitability and was now well positioned for future growth, as was evidenced in its half-year results in November last year.

Those showed a reduced half-year loss and a 13% increase in revenue to Β£40m for WYG’s UK business, driven by growth in infrastructure and planning work.

Its statement today said: β€œAgainst this background, the Board of WYG recognises that this strategic review may or may not conclude that, given its current relative scale, being part of a larger business or expanding the scale of its current operating platform would provide significant advantages and better position the company to take full advantage of its growth potential.

β€œAt this stage, however, all options available to the company are being considered.

β€œThe review will, therefore, incorporate a range of strategic options including a potential corporate transaction, such as a strategic partnership, a merger or acquisition to enhance the scale and breadth of WYG’s platform, the acquisition of or subscription for the company’s securities by a third party, a sale of the company, a new or extended bank facility or continuing to invest in expanding the business organically and through partnerships and bolt-on acquisitions.”