Aramark acquires Veris for €50m

INTERNATIONAL food services and facilities management group Aramark, which owns the Campbell Catering business, has acquired property management group Veris for about €50 million.

Earlier this year, Veris – which owns the Irish Estates and Vector businesses – sold its logistics and storage/ removals division, which included such brands such as Nat Ross, Beverly Smyth and Oman Transport.

And, in the last couple of months, it granted permission to a third party to carry out due diligence on the rest of the business. The group, which had been reviewing its cost structure for some time, has published its financial results for the first half of this year. They show a 24% year-on-year fall in revenue, to €31.7m, and a pre-tax loss of €10.2m, down from a pre-tax profit of just under €2m for the same period last year.

Similarly, diluted earnings per share of 6c at the halfway stage last year were transformed into a 40.6c loss per share as of the end of last June. The group’s net debt for the first half increased by €800,000 to reach €29.9m.

Veris chairman Niall McFadden said first-half results were in line with expectations and management was confident of the company’s market position in a tough environment.

He said the €10.2m loss was accentuated by a €2.9m loss on the disposal of the group’s moving and storage division and a goodwill impairment charge related to that division of €9.1m.

“We’re seeing a trend of customers reducing their property management and facilities management expenditure. This reduction in spend, in conjunction with some delays in awarding contracts, is impacting revenue and profits,” he said. He said the firm expects that trend to continue, resulting in lower revenue and profits than last year. Management said the cash price of nearly €51m for the company represented “an attractive valuation” for the property/facilities management business.

Goodbody Stockbrokers forecast full year revenues at Veris of €76.3m for 2009, which would be down 9.5%. But it also suggested a 6.5% increase in earnings per share, to 22c, is possible.