ATS acquires MARCO Limited

ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. acquired UK-based MARCO Limited, a provider of yield control and recipe formulation systems to help customers in the food, nutraceuticals and cosmetics sectors increase productivity and meet stringent industry regulations. MARCO’s solutions are based on its proprietary weighing hardware and process control software technologies.

“MARCO is a high-quality company that provides ATS with the means of entering a product-based, niche segment of the food industry that is growing at a mid-single digit rate,” said Andrew Hider, Chief Executive Officer of ATS. “The food industry itself is attractive to ATS because it is subject to industry and government regulations driving a need for high precision technologies. In MARCO, we acquire a proven business that is well positioned to meet growing demand for productivity and quality-enhancing solutions. MARCO will serve as a first step in our expansion into an attractive new vertical market for ATS.”

In its fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, MARCO is expected to generate revenues of approximately £15 million Pounds Sterling with an EBITDA margin in the low- to mid-twenty percent range. Excluding the impact of business combination accounting, ATS expects to achieve a ten percent return on invested capital by the second fiscal year following the acquisition.

Established in 1985, MARCO has approximately 70 employees, the majority of whom work at its headquarters in Edenbridge, United Kingdom. MARCO will continue to be led by its founders, CEO, Murray Hilborne and COO, Russel Hilborne.

“Joining ATS enables us to take advantage of ATS’s global reach, industry-leading technologies and after-market services platform,” said Mr. Murray Hilborne. “This exciting combination will benefit MARCO’s customers and employees. The management team and I look forward to working with ATS to enable MARCO to take the next step in realizing its full potential and ambitions.”
www.atsautomation.com
www.marco.co.uk