Agricultural group Origin Enterprises has bought UK firms Avian Ecology and Bowland Ecology as part of its new living landscapes division.
Both companies work as consultants for ecological and environmental projects in the UK.
Manager for the division TJ Kelly said the company was happy to welcome the Avian and Bowland teams to the environmental side of its living landscapes division.
“Today’s acquisitions, along with my appointment as managing director of the Living Landscape division, underscore our commitment to expanding this area of our business,” Mr Kelly told The Irish Times. “Currently, Living Landscapes represents 15 per cent of our portfolio and we have set an ambitious target to reach 30 per cent in the near future.”
These purchases for Origin Enterprises are in addition to other agricultural acquisitions by the firm such as Neo Environmental in March 2023 and Keystone Environmental in October 2022.
“Recent earnings volatility has been due to external factors” such as weather and fertiliser prices, analysts at Berenberg said in a research note.
The company’s latest interim results, published in March, showed volumes of business had decreased by 2.6 per cent due to the weather’s impact on planting crops.
The company’s expansion into the ecological and environmental sector should improve its earning potential, the report said.
If environmental and ecology contribute 30 per cent of Origin’s operating profits by the end of 2026 this will improve the earnings quality in the company, the report said, as it forecasts that “volatility is likely to be lower.”
Origin Enterprises has operation in five markets around the globe including Ireland, the UK, Brazil, Poland and Romania.
Avian Ecology is based in Cheshire and Stirlingshire and was established in 2007. It specialised in the study of birds and renewable energy issues.
Bowland Ecology employs a number of ecologists across a range of professions including botanist, protected species surveyors and ornithologists.
This story was updated on September 6th to correct attribution to comments from analysts at Berenberg, and not from Origin Enterprises itself.
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