Mitie buys engineering services firm JCA for £31.5m

FTSE 250 facilities management group Mitie is spending £31.5m to buy Stevenage-based JC Engineering, a specialist in cooling systems for data centres.

Mitie, which provides everything from commercial cleaning to engineering maintenance and landscaping, announced on Monday the acquisition price comprises an initial payment of £21m and deferred payments of up to £10.5m over three years, linked to performance, and will be funded by existing loan facilities.

"The acquisition of JCA Engineering follows the Group's strategy to invest in high growth, high margin companies, enhancing our projects capabilities in the growth areas of energy efficiency, office fitouts and critical environments," said Mitie chief executive Phil Bentley.

JCA works on complex engineering projects across the UK, specialising in consulting, design, build and maintenance, with a particular focus on critical environments such as data centres, life sciences and healthcare sectors. It holds design patents for cooling systems in data centres.

For the 2022 financial year, JCA generated £72m in revenues, up 17% year-on-year, while EBITDA rose 4% to £5.1m.