Owners of a North Wales tugboat venture with an international client base are seeking to exit the business.
Founders and sole equity holdings of Holyhead Towing Company, a subsidiary of Holyhead Boatyard, the Meade family, have appointed finnCap Cavendish to explore exit options and consider approaches.
Founded in 1966 by John and Audrey Meade the business has grown to become an international provider of specialist offshore, shallow-water services through its fleet of tugboats and workboats. The company’s current fleet has been valued at more than £35m.
Its blue-chip clients includes oil and renewable corporates and major dredging companies, Holyhead Towing has developed its specialist capabilities in the shallow draught vessel market, establishing itself as a leading player across energy and civil marine infrastructure projects in European, the Middle Eastern, African, and South American waters.
After a challenging period for the sector, the business has strongly rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic, returning to profitability over its last two financial years. Reportedly, the towing division is set to announce revenues of around £20m and a £4.7m Ebitda for its last year to March end this year. In the previous year it generated revenues of £18.6m and posted a pre-tax profit of £2.7m.
Stewart Graves, chairman, Holyhead Boatyard Group said: “Holyhead Towing has developed an excellent reputation over many years through organic expansion on a global scale. Following a challenging Covid period, the business has returned to position of financial strength thanks to our excellent crews and fantastic management team led by James Burns (managing director). With the forthcoming retirement of the Group chief executive (Captain Mark Meade), the family shareholders believe now is the right time to explore the options available to the business for its next phase of growth.”
The finnCap Cavendish advisory team is led by Andrew Jeffs (partner), and Mike Dinsdale (director).
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