(Alliance News) - Origin Enterprises PLC on Friday said it has bought Neo Environmental Ltd, a planning, environmental and technical consultancy business.

Origin is a Dublin-based agricultural services group, which provides specialist on-farm agronomy services and the supply of crop technologies and inputs.

"Neo is a multi-disciplinary consultancy business that provides market-leading planning, environmental and technical advice to a range of clients, primarily in the energy and infrastructure sectors across the UK & Ireland," Origin said.

It did not disclose the price of the acquisition.

Origin Chief Executive Officer Sean Coyle said: "The acquisition of Neo Environmental aligns with our strategy to broaden the group's amenity, environmental and ecological portfolio and enhances our ability to deliver on our ambition of promoting sustainable land use."

Origin added that it has completed its EU20 million share buyback, which was launched in September last year. It noted that it has returned a cumulative EUR60 million to shareholders via share buybacks in the last two years.

"We expect our near-term capital deployment will be focused on further bolt-on acquisitions, strategic capex to drive organic growth and our progressive dividend policy," Coyle added.

Earlier in March, Origin posted a 35% jump in revenue during the six months ended January 31 to EUR1.18 billion from EUR877.1 million the previous year. Interim pretax profit also was higher, at EUR13.3 million, up 75% from EUR7.6 million.

The company announced an interim dividend of 3.15 cents per share, unchanged from the previous year.

Shares in Origin were untraded on Friday in London, last trading on Thursday at EUR4.21.

By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter

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