Chieftain Group the AIM quoted diversified engineering business came out with a classic announcement on Monday.

The Tyneside-based industrial services group was ‘pleased to announce’ that it had acquired Kevin Lloyd Ltd and that the acquisition offers significant synergies with Chieftain's existing operations in the North East of England and further bolsters the Group's commitment to its industrial services customer base on Teesside.

It went on to say that Kevin Lloyd Ltd currently employs five full-time managers and 65 operatives, has two main streams of activity, Steel Fabrication and Engineering Services. The business serves the process industries on Teesside with customers including Corus and Seal Sands Chemicals.

However, no mention was made of to the cost of the deal or for that matter any financial information in respect of Kevin Lloyd Ltd. Somewhat important in my view! As the latter is a Limited company whose accounts are open to everyone to have a look at, I can’t understand why Chieftain didn’t provide a little more information.

With a market cap of c£14m Chieftain has a hard enough job attracting interest and the recent woolly announcement is hardly good for investor relations.

Are we left to assume that they have acquired a basket case for an inflated price?