Merseyside shipyard Cammell Laird is to join forces with A&P Group to create a single shipbuilding and ship repair brand with a combined turnover of £188m. Tony McDonough reports

Cammell Laird is joining forces with another shipyard owner A&P Group to create a maritime powerhouse with a combined turnover of £188m.

With its shipyard based in Birkenhead, Cammell Laird’s most recent financial results showed annual revenues of £94m. A&P operates two shipyards in the North East of England and one in Falmouth in the South West. Its current turnover is also £94m.

Now both businesses will come under the umbrella of a new entity, APCL Group. The group will also include project management specialist A&P Australia.

Cammell Laird and A&P already have a close working relationship and David McGinley is chief executive of both companies. He will be CEO of the new entity.

This deal will not see a change of ownership of either business which will retain their individual identities. The ultimate parent company of Cammell Laird is Isle of Man-based Tokenhouse which is the parent company of ports and property giant Peel Group.

This latest move means APCL will “stand before the market” as a much larger company. It will develop an “all of one” company approach to certain major contracts and will further the group’s ambition of becoming a tier one contractor.

Mr McGinley said: “Each individual company will retain its proud heritage, identity and history. But being part of APCL Group will enable them all to work more closely together and develop synergies for the benefit of both the company and the customer.

“In today’s global marketplace, being able to speak with one voice, across a number of markets, collaborate and share knowledge and expertise across our global operations means we can better serve our valued customers and stakeholders.”

In September LBN revealed Cammell Laird is to build sections of a new £840m warship for the Royal Navy.

BAE Systems has already started building the first three of the new Type 26 frigates, which are anti-submarine warfare vessels, at its yard in Govan in Scotland. That contract to construct HMS Glasgow, HMS Cardiff and HMS Belfast is worth £3.7bn.

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BAE has also started work on the second phase of the Type 26 programme which will see a further five ships built at a cost of £4.2bn. They are HMS Birmingham, HMS Sheffield, HMS Newcastle, HMS Edinburgh and HMS London.

Workers at Cammell Laird will build units for HMS Birmingham and will then join those units together. It secured the contract from BAE. A&P will also build units for the programme at its yard on the Tyne.