James Fisher & Sons (www.james-fisher.com), Barrow-in-Furness — a leading provider of innovative marine solutions and specialist engineering services — has bought its third business in less than three months, taking its total investment to £27 million.

Its latest acquisition is Liverpool-based Hughes Marine Engineering (the holding company of Hughes Sub Surface Engineering). It will pay an initial £9 million in cash, with up to £1 million more subject to profit targets being met by next February.

Hughes Sub Surface (www.hsse.co.uk) made a pre-tax profit of £1.6 million last year. Founded in 2005 to “provide commercial diving and civil-engineering services to underwater projects”, it operates in the marine renewables, power generation, oil and gas, and inshore civil-engineering sectors.

Nick Henry, chief executive of James Fisher, said: “The operations of Hughes Sub Surface are complementary to those of our firm. They will broaden our range of services to the market, particularly to the renewable-energy industry offshore.”