Precast manufacturer Creagh Concrete is believed to be eyeing the potential acquisition of Co Armagh construction services firm Norman Emerson Group, sources have told The Irish News.
It comes just weeks after the Toome firm, run by brothers Gerard, Seamus and Patrick McKeague, posted a ten-fold increase in pre-tax profit to £5 million after its sales in the year to last September rose to a record £116 million.
The Emerson Group, which specialises in the supply of products and services to the construction and landscape sectors but also runs a ready-mixed plant near Lurgan, has been in business since 1945.
Firmly rooted in the water-based extraction of Lough Neagh Sands, the third generation family-run Emerson business has evolved to develop extraction of hard rock quarries, gravel pits and the production of ready mixed concrete
Its most recent set of published accounts (up to December 2022) show that it swung from a profit the previous year to a loss of £254,000 on sales of £8.3 million.
Based at Ardmore on the shores of Lough Neagh, Emerson Group has around 60 staff on its books.
The acquisition, if sealed, would see the payroll at Creagh Concrete go past 700, making it one of the biggest manufacturing firms in the north.
When contacted by the Irish News, Emerson Group’s managing director George Emerson said he was “unprepared to comment at the moment”.
Creagh Concrete was approached for a comment but has not responded.
Creagh’s directors, in comments made when the company’s latest set of accounts were published, said: “Our dramatic improvement in the last year derived from procedures implemented in the previous year to improve cost control, productivity and contract risk assessment and management resulting in a more stringent approach to selecting new contracts.”
Looking ahead, Creagh’s directors said the order book remains strong and they also confirmed the group has refinanced its borrowings and secured increased finance facilities with new partners.
“These new facilities provide a strong foundation to support the working capital needs of the business and fund anticipated future growth,” they said.
The possible merging of Creagh and Emerson comes on the eve of NI Manufacturing Month, which shines a light on a sector currently worth more than £6 billion, the second largest contributor to the region’s economic output.
According to Manufacturing NI chief executive Stephen Kelly, writing in today’s Business Insight, the sector currently employs 250,000 people, meaning more than one in four families in the north are dependent on a manufacturing wage.
The sector now accounts for almost half of external sales from the north (£13.7bn) and more than half (£6.8bn) in export sales and delivers the largest trade balance across all local industries by a considerable margin.
“It’s obvious that manufacturing in Northern Ireland punches well above its weight,” Mr Kelly says in today’s article.