Babcock International Group

Infobox Company
company_name = Babcock International Group plc
company_
company_type = Public (lse|BAB)
foundation = 1891
location = London, UK
key_people = Gordon Campbell (Chairman)
Peter Rogers (CEO)
industry = Support services
products =
revenue = £1,555.9 million (2008)
operating_income = £110.2 million (2008)
net_income = £69.7 million (2008)
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.babcock.co.uk/ www.babcock.co.uk/]
footnotes =

Babcock International Group PLC (lse|BAB) is a British-based support services company specialising in mobilising its engineering expertise to assist its customers in managing complex assets and infrastructure in safety-critical and mission-critical environments. Although the company has civil contracts, its main business is with public bodies, particularly the UK Ministry of Defence and Network Rail. The company has seven UK operating divisions and overseas operations based in Africa and North America. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

Foundation and development

Babcock International traces its history back to 1891 when the American Babcock & Wilcox Company established Babcock & Wilcox Limited as its United Kingdom subsidiary. " [http://www.nahste.ac.uk/cgi-bin/view_isad.pl?id=GB-0248-UGD-309&view=basic Records of Babcock International Group plc] ." Glasgow University Archive Services]

Babcock & Wilcox Ltd's early business centred around the manufacture of boilers. This expanded as a result of the two world wars and the supply of defence equipment became another major business area. In the 1960s the company became involved in the development of the UK's nuclear power stations.

In 1979 Babcock & Wilcox Ltd was renamed Babcock International Ltd. This company was floated on the stock exchange in 1982, becoming Babcock International PLC. In 1987 Babcock merged with FKI Electricals plc, another engineering company to form FKI Babcock PLC. In February 1989 FKI Babcock PLC demerged to form Babcock International Group PLC and FKI plc. " [http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/collects/catalog/ugd/301-350/ugd309-24.html Records of Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Ltd] " Glasgow University Archive Services] .

In 1995 the boiler manufacturing and energy services activities (originally the core businesses of Babcock) were sold, and now form Doosan Babcock, a subsidiary company of the Doosan Group. In 2000 Babcock took the strategic decision to move away from manufacturing towards applying its engineering heritage and expertise to maintain and support the critical equipment and infrastructure of customers for whom outsourcing was seen as an attractive option. One of the early expressions of this strategy was in 2002 Babcock was reclassified on the London Stock Exchange from Engineering to Support Services.

Recent years

On 19 June 2002 the Company acquired Service Group International Ltd, a provider of support services in defence and civil markets. [http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/babcocka.htm UK Business Park] ] It successfully bid for Peterhouse Group plc and on 18 June 2004 its bid was declared unconditional as over 50% of shares were held. On 30 September 2004 it acquired Turner and Partners, a provider of professional services to the telecoms industry. On 9 May 2006 it went on to acquire Alstec Group Ltd, a nuclear and airport services operator, [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20060514/ai_n16365690/pg_2 Babcock has eye for nuclear contracts] ] and on 13 June 2006 it bought the high voltage power lines and mobile telecoms business of ABB South Africa (Pty). On 10 May 2007 19 million new shares were placed to fund acquisitions and on 28 June 2007 it acquired Devonport Management Limited, operators of the Devonport Dockyard nuclear submarine and surface vessel facilities. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6641427.stm Naval Dockyard bought for £350m] ]

On 25 July 2007 the UK Government announced that the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, of which Babcock International is a part, would carry out final assembly of two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy at their Rosyth Dockyard. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7245217.stm Shipyard to build carriers' hulls] ] On 7 August 2007 acceptances for the acquisition of International Nuclear Solutions PLC reached 58.9% of issued share capital and a take-over was then completed. [ [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/1003/1003838_babcock_buys_ins_in_agreed_takeover_move.html Babcock buys INS in agreed takeover] ]

Operations

The Company is organised into the following divisions: Airports, Defence Services, Rail, Infrastructure Services, Networks, Nuclear Services, Marine, Africa and Eagleton.

References