Milford Haven | Archive | 2006 | March | 23
From the archive, first published Thursday 23rd Mar 2006.
MILFORD Haven Port Authority has confirmed that it has sold off the subsidiary company which tackles oil pollution.
DV Howells has been sold for £550,000 to Braemar Seascope, a provider of broking and consultancy services to the shipping industry.
All 30 staff will transfer with the business.
Ted Sangster, chief executive of Milford Haven Port Authority, said DV Howells had grown to a state where it had "less synergy" with port authority activities.
He explained that DV Howells was set up in its current form in 1998 with a remit to create a business from the core contract held, at that time, with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for housing and deploying the national stockpile of equipment to be used in the event of a major oil pollution at sea.
"The management team has been extremely successful in building a much bigger business from these small beginnings and in recent years this growth had added inland response, training, environmental, rail and industrial services and overseas consultancy to its original core marine emergency response business," he said.
"As a result, DV Howells was becoming a business which has less synergy with our activities as a Port Authority group of companies.
"While we will continue to assist DV Howells in many ways, this will no longer be as the owner, as we firmly believe that its future potential will be better served as part of the Braemar Seascope Group's more widely-based operations."
Headquartered in London, Braemar Seascope has offices in Aberdeen, Beijing, Shanghai, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney plus interests in Mumbai, New Delhi and Singapore.
Alan Marsh, CEO of Braemar Seascope Group plc, commented: "We are delighted to welcome DV Howells into the group and look forward to working with the management to expand the business in the future. The acquisition is another step in our overall strategy of building a broadly-based shipping services group."
© Newsquest Media Group 2008