31.08.2023

Aurora acquires NMS

Aurora Energy Services has acquired Scottish lifting and inspection company NMS - Northern Marine Services.

Established in 2017 NMS is based in Wick in the far north east of Scotland. Its services include crane rental, contract lift, rigging as well as lift planning and supervision. The company runs a few small trailer mounted cranes including one of the few Böcker AHK 36 aluminium trailer cranes in the UK. Other services include inspection and testing of rigging and lifting equipment and Marine Consultancy. It is a member of the LEEA, the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association.

NMS founder, owner and sole director Alasdair Noble will continue to manage the company which will be rebranded as Aurora NMS. He will assume the title of lifting & marine services director.

Based in Inverness, Aurora Energy Services is largely owned by Indigo 7 Ventures (I7V), which also owns RenQuip and Recruitment Ventures. With a fresh investment from the group, Aurora NMS will roll out its niche services over a wider area, in a bid to replicate what NMS has achieved in the north of Scotland. It expects to create up to 10 new jobs in the business over the next three years. No details of the transaction have been released but NMS has negative net worth and working capital.

Aurora’s chief executive Doug Duguid, said: “Alasdair Noble has built an excellent business across a number of diverse sectors and NMS’s strong track record in renewables aligns well with our own ambitions of becoming a leading energy services provider. Aurora will invest capital in NMS to strengthen its regular and specialist lifting equipment and vehicle assets and provide an infrastructure to introduce its unique offering to a wider client base out with its north west Scotland heartland. We will also put resources into recruiting staff and offering trainee opportunities in and around Wick, which as a Scottish business is an important element of our overall growth strategy.”

“The strong links NMS enjoys with major wind farm operators and in the infrastructure sector is something that we can support and strengthen, and we believe Aurora’s growing reputation in those areas can, in turn, act as a springboard for continued success.”

Alasdair Noble added: “We are finding that many utility companies, which are an important part of our client base, are more comfortable dealing with larger businesses. We now have that scale and financial and organisational backing which utilities are seeking, and we believe this will take the business to a higher level. We can now drive forward the business in ways which were simply out of reach previously, and we are excited that we will be able to offer opportunities for the local workforce in Wick not just locally, but internationally.”

This is Aurora’s third acquisition the other two being offshore services and fabrication company R&M Engineering, and rope access and training specialist, Inverness Access Training Services.
Aurora’s business plan is to create an international energy services business over the next five years with revenues of £100 million, by developing a strong presence in wind, solar, hydrogen, carbon capture & storage, pumped hydro and waste to energy sectors. The company is apparently also working on its first international acquisition.

Aurora has also committed £750,000 to establish The Renewable Energy Training Centre in Inverness which will offer safety training and technical courses for onsite renewables operations, and reskilling programs for workers looking to transition into renewables sector jobs.