InfraStrata plc has acquired assets of Burntisland Fabrication Limited (Bifab) from the administrators. The deal, worth £850,000, will be split across two tranches: £650,000 upon completion and £200,000 when substantial revenues are generated. These facilities will trade under the Harland & Wolff brand and represent the final fabrication piece of its UK footprint, positioning the company to fully deliver on its existing strategy quicker than it would have done with only its two existing sites: Harland & Wolff (Belfast) and Harland & Wolff (Appledore).

About the facilities

The acquisition will see two sites join the Harland & Wolff group:

• Methil – Fife, east coast of Scotland
• Arnish – Isle of Lewis, west coast of Scotland

This will mean the addition of:

• Over 25,000m³ of undercover fabrication capacity
• 580,000 m² of total site area
• 24,000 tonnes of quayside load-out capabilities
• Annual throughput tonnage estimated at over 100,000 tonnes
• Prime waterfront sites that are capable of load in, load out and launching activities
• Close proximity to an array of wind farm projects currently ongoing and planned in the Irish Sea and North Sea
• Significant fabrication capabilities

Benefits to the business

The advantages this acquisition brings to the business are plentiful:

• Substantial increase in the probability-to-win rate (Pwin rate) by offering clients multiple fabrication sites and reducing fabrication timelines by as much as 30%; offering project developers a faster route to project monetisation and de-risking fabrication projects by spreading work across three distinct but close-proximity geographies.
• Inheritance of numerous historic pre-qualification and live tender opportunities in addition to the substantial track record in the oil & gas and renewables markets that Bifab has already established.
• Catapulting Harland & Wolff onto the project runway of significant projects that were previously at the planning stage before the Belfast site was acquired in December 2019 but are now ready to commence fabrication.

InfraStrata has now fulfilled its strategic ambition to have fabrication sites across various geographical locations around the United Kingdom which delivers local and cross government support and aligns the business even closer to the UK Government’s “levelling-up” agenda and the “Green Industrial Revolution”.

John Wood, CEO of InfraStrata, commented: 
"I am very pleased to have completed the acquisition of the assets of Bifab, which is in keeping with our stated strategy of capitalising on complementary opportunities when they present themselves. Whilst the total consideration is not material, relative to our balance sheet size and market cap, it nevertheless is a very important and highly strategic acquisition for InfraStrata. With this acquisition, we now have a footprint in Scotland, which is the hotbed for major wind farm projects as well as for shipbuilding programmes.

We have now positioned ourselves strategically across the UK, with four sites capable of servicing our five core markets. This acquisition gives us the flexibility to optimise our operations across the Group and offer our clients the ability to fabricate faster and de-risk their exposure by offering multiple sites. As we move into larger contracts, it is crucial that we demonstrate the capacity to bid for and deliver on these projects. The acquisition of Bifab's assets delivers that capability to us and will open up a larger demographic of tender opportunities. Most importantly, it is expected to substantially boost our existing sales pipeline success rate given that the fabrication risk carried by the project developers will drop significantly since we will now be more favourably located geographically than others. Finally, I wish to warmly welcome the personnel whom we have taken on at Methil and Arnish and I am confident that we will turn these facilities into highly successful businesses that generate jobs and investment into their local economies in due course."

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