The transaction consideration comprises an initial payment of £8 million, with deferred payments in aggregate of up to £4.4m by the end of FY25, linked to performance targets.

Custom Solar will be acquired cash free, debt free, with a normalised level of working capital. The transaction is expected to complete on 30 June and will be funded through existing facilities. For the 12 months ended 31 March 2022, Custom Solar generated revenues of £15m and profit before tax of £2m and had gross assets of £7m. Custom Solar is expected to be accretive to earnings in the first 12 months of ownership.

The staff and senior management team of Custom Solar, including managing director, Matthew Brailsford, will join Mitie to help drive the business forward.

Simon Venn, managing director, technical services, Mitie, said: “The acquisition of Custom Solar continues Mitie’s strategy of investing in high growth, high return businesses within the energy and decarbonisation market to help our customers accelerate their path to net zero.

“Custom Solar’s expertise in large scale commercial solar deployments, combined with Mitie’s high voltage connection and project management expertise, will enable us to offer end-to-end renewable power generation at scale. With our client base including national brands, public sector organisations and critical infrastructure providers, this is yet another element of our support to help decarbonise Britain.”