Environmental consultant RPS is on the acquisition trail again, having acquired Mountainheath Services (MSL), a European provider of specialist laboratory services for up to £1.9 million.

Environmental consultant RPS is on the acquisition trail again, having acquired Mountainheath Services (MSL), a European provider of specialist laboratory services for up to £1.9 million.

An initial cash payment of £1.2 million will be made, with subsequent payments of £350,000 to be made on the first and second anniversaries of completion of the deal’s completion, subject to certain operational conditions being met.

RPS said the acquired company’s activities would complement RPS’s existing laboratory capabilities in the UK and the Netherlands.

RPS, which has a growth strategy of acquiring small companies operating in its trajectory, said the integration of businesses bought in the first half of this year is going well and that it has enough financial resources to plough on with its acquisition strategy.

Discussions with other businesses in all three segments of the group are progressing positively said Alan Hearne, chief executive of RPS.

In the year ended 31 March this year, MSL made pre-tax profit of £400,000 on revenues of £1.2 million.