Rotork, the Bath-based global engineering group, has announced two international acquisitions as it seeks to broaden the business in the face of tough trading conditions.
The firm, which manufactures specialist valves and flow control equipment for the oil and gas sector, has paid $12.4m (£8.17m) for US firm Roto Hammer Industries and €1.4m (£1.04m) for French actuator business Servo Moteurs Service (SMS). 
The takeovers come two weeks after it warned its profits would be lower because of the impact of the lower oil price.
Roto Hammer, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, makes custom-designed chain wheel manual valve operators which complement Rotork’s existing product range. The firm will sit within Rotork’s gears division.
SMS is an actuator service business located in the South of France.
Rotork chief executive Peter France said: “The acquisition of Roto Hammer is consistent with our strategy of continuing to broaden our product portfolio. This is a complementary business to Rotork Gears and will increase our presence in the important USA market.
“The acquisition of SMS in the South of France is another important step forward in the development of our direct service offering to our customers.”
Both takeovers are being paid for by cash from Rotork’s existing committed bank facilities.
Earlier this month Rotork’s shares fell by more than 16% in just a few hours as it warned that “challenging” market conditions would hit its annual profits.
That followed an 8.4% fall in pre-tax profits to £56.3m on revenues down by 1.6% to £274.2m in the six months to June 30. The firm blamed the continued weakness of the oil price and geopolitical uncertainty in some of its key oil and gas markets. It also snapped up Italian valve manufacturer M&M International for €9.7m (£6.9m).
