Vp has announced the bolt-on acquisition of M&S Hire this morning, for £2.8m in cash. M&S Hire supplies access systems and working at height solutions to the commercial fit out sector. The business will be integrated with Vp’s existing, successful MEP Hire business. We make no changes to forecasts this morning, given the fairly modest scale of the transaction, but the news is noteworthy as the Group’s first acquisition to be announced since 2019, providing a reminder that selective M&A is likely to remain a feature of Vp’s growth story, as it has been over the past 20 years. Vp issued a positive trading update last month and reports interim results on 30th November. We continue to see upside potential in terms of both Vp’s rating and earnings forecasts over the medium term.
