DCC – the tech, healthcare and energy investor – will acquire Next Energy, a renewable energy provider focused on the UK domestic sector.
The deal values Next at around £90m. The company provides retrofitting solutions to older British homes, carrying out work to insulate roofs, transform central heating solutions and upgrade boilers.
The Liverpool-headquartered Next Energy has a significant footprint in UK government business and this morning DCC said the firm’s addressable market could be as broad as 16m UK homes, 14.5m of which could be eligible for full or partial funding.
It is the latest in a string of major and minor acquisitions announced over the past year by the Dublin-HQed firm.
DCC announced full year results alongside the acquisition, with adjusted operating profit up 4.1 per cent to £682.8m, driven by growth in the energy business.
It will also up its annual dividend by 5 per cent, marking thirty straight years of dividend growth.
Overall revenue sat at £19.9bn, around 10 per cent down on the year before, though earnings per share and profit were both up.
Donal Murphy, Chief Executive, said: “We are pleased to announce that we delivered a year of growth, development and strategic progress – in our 30th year as a public company. The very strong growth delivered by DCC Energy was the highlight of the year, and it is also encouraging that DCC Healthcare returned to organic growth in the second half of the year.”