Amcomri Group Expands Rail Services with Strategic Acquisition of North West Transport Supplies

Amcomri buys NTS Limited Leyland to deepen specialist rail repair and overhaul exposure

Amcomri Group has made another bolt-on acquisition, this time buying North West Transport Supplies Limited, which trades as NTS Limited Leyland. On the face of it, this is a small deal, but it looks like a tidy strategic move into a specialist corner of the UK rail market where technical know-how, safety standards and long customer relationships matter a lot.

NTS is based in Leyland, Lancashire and works on repair and overhaul of electro-mechanical units, HVAC systems and pneumatic control equipment used on rail rolling stock fleets. In plain English, that means it helps keep trains running by fixing and refurbishing critical components rather than replacing them outright.

That matters because this sort of work tends to be niche, repetitive and hard to win without a strong track record. Amcomri is not buying a flashy story here. It is buying capability, customers and recurring work in a market where reliability is a big deal.

Amcomri acquisition terms: £3 million upfront with up to £1 million deferred

The deal has been completed on a cash free/debt free basis. That means the price assumes NTS is being bought without surplus cash left in the business and without financial debt being taken on by the buyer.

Key deal metric | Figure
Initial cash consideration | £3 million
Maximum deferred consideration | Up to £1 million
Deferred payment timing | 50% in July 2027, 50% subject to earn-out in August 2027
NTS revenue for year ended 31 March 2026 | Approximately £3.2 million
NTS profit before tax for year ended 31 March 2026 | Approximately £1.1 million
NTS net assets at 31 March 2026 | Approximately £0.75 million

The initial £3 million was paid from existing cash resources, which is worth noting. Amcomri did not need to announce new borrowing or an equity raise to get this done, and that usually takes some execution risk off the table.

The extra £1 million is not all guaranteed on day one. Half is deferred until July 2027, and the other half is tied to an earn-out payable in August 2027. An earn-out is a payment linked to future performance, so it helps align buyer and seller interests after completion.

Based on the numbers disclosed, the maximum total price of £4 million is about 1.25 times revenue and about 3.6 times profit before tax. That looks reasonable, even attractive, but there is an important caveat: the profit number is unaudited and stated before normalisation of director costs, so the clean underlying earnings power is not fully disclosed.

Why North West Transport Supplies fits Amcomri’s Buy, Improve, Build model

This acquisition fits neatly with what Amcomri says it wants to be. The group focuses on buying specialist engineering services and industrial manufacturing businesses, then improving and building them over time.

NTS appears to tick several boxes. It has long-standing customer relationships, repeat revenue, positive cash flow and a skilled workforce operating in safety-critical markets. Those are usually attractive traits in industrial acquisitions because they can support resilience when the wider economy gets messy.

There is also a clear strategic fit with Amcomri’s Embedded Engineering division. The company says the deal broadens the range of electromechanical services it can provide, and it specifically points to synergy opportunities with TP Matrix, eTrac and Electronix.

That is one of the more interesting parts of the RNS. Amcomri is not presenting NTS as a stand-alone asset sitting in a corner. It is presenting it as another piece in a growing specialist repair and overhaul cluster, particularly with exposure to rail and technically demanding maintenance work.

What retail investors should like about the NTS acquisition

Profitable target: NTS generated approximately £1.1 million of profit before tax on approximately £3.2 million of revenue for the year ended 31 March 2026.

Positive cash flow: The RNS says NTS has consistently generated positive cash flow in recent years, which is often a better sign than accounting profit alone.

Recurring revenue: Repeat work from a quality customer base can make earnings more dependable.

Sector niche: Rail repair and overhaul is specialised, regulated and safety critical. That can create barriers to entry.

Management continuity: David Calvert will remain as Managing Director for two years, while Guy Woods continues as Finance Director for a period. That should help the handover.

Limited upfront risk: Only £3 million is paid on completion, with some of the remaining consideration deferred and partly performance linked.

The retirement angle also makes sense. Amcomri says it has experience in owner-manager succession situations, where a founder wants to step back but the business still has value to unlock. These can be fertile hunting grounds if the buyer knows how to integrate without breaking what made the target work in the first place.

Risks and unanswered questions in the Amcomri RNS

There is plenty to like here, but it is not a no-brainer.

First, the financial disclosure is fairly light. We have revenue, profit before tax and net assets, but no breakdown of margins, capital expenditure, customer concentration or order book. For a rail supplier, those details would help investors judge just how durable the earnings really are.

Second, the profit number is stated before normalisation of director costs. That phrase matters. If the outgoing owners were paid below market rates, future costs could rise under Amcomri. If they were paid above market, profits could improve. The RNS does not disclose the normalised figure, so investors cannot be precise yet.

Third, synergies are mentioned, but not quantified. That is normal at this stage, but it means the upside case is still more story than hard maths.

Finally, integration always carries risk, even in small deals. Specialist engineering businesses often rely heavily on technical staff, tacit knowledge and customer trust. Those assets do not sit neatly on a balance sheet, and they can walk out the door if a takeover is handled badly.

Amcomri rail services strategy looks increasingly deliberate

What stands out to me is the pattern. Amcomri highlights earlier acquisitions including TP Matrix, eTrac and Electronix, with Electronix acquired in July 2025. This suggests management is building depth in specialist repair and overhaul rather than making random purchases across industrial markets.

That is encouraging because focused acquisition strategies are usually easier to execute than sprawling ones. If Amcomri can cross-sell services, share technical expertise and improve operational performance across similar businesses, the value of each acquisition can be greater inside the group than outside it.

The company also says market conditions in its niche end markets are generally positive and resilient. That is management’s view rather than a quantified forecast, but it fits with the idea that infrastructure and transport maintenance demand can hold up better than more cyclical industrial segments.

My verdict on the Amcomri North West Transport Supplies acquisition

This looks like a positive RNS.

It is not transformational in size, but that is partly why I like it. Amcomri appears to be buying a profitable, cash-generative niche operator for what looks like a sensible price structure, while keeping the key Managing Director in place for two years and leaving some of the purchase price dependent on future performance.

The biggest positive is strategic fit. NTS strengthens Amcomri in specialist rail repair and electromechanical services, and it seems to plug directly into an existing acquisition theme. The biggest negative is that investors still do not have enough detail to judge the quality of earnings with total confidence, especially around normalised profits and customer exposure.

Overall, though, this has the feel of disciplined M&A rather than empire building. For retail investors, that is usually the right starting point.