In line with the company’s stated strategy of building, organically and through acquisition, a comprehensive technical services offering for their steel and foundry customers, Vesuvius PLC have announced that they have agreed to acquire the Sidermes Group, for an undisclosed amount.

Sidermes is a leading Italian-based supplier of probes and systems, which measure for example, temperature, oxygen and hydrogen in the steel and foundry industries. Sidermes, which had revenue of €22 million in 2014, will complement the recently acquired ECIL Met Tec business, and will become part of Vesuvius’s Technical Services business, the results of which will be accounted for within the Steel Division.

Molten flow engineering company Vesuvius said it expects to meet market expectations for 2015 as mixed market conditions continued in the first four months of the year but margins improved.

Group revenue in the first four months to the end of April was GBP474.9 million, down 2% year-on-year due to weaker trading activity in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and in South Asia. This was partially offset by better performances in South America, India, North Asia and China, it said. Revenue was down 1.3% at constant currencies.

In 2014 the company acquired Brazil’s Ecil Met Tec Ltda and northern California-based Process Metrix LLC.

Ecil Met Tec manufactures and supplies consumable thermocouples used to measure the temperature of molten metal, amongst other things. It has operations in Brazil and the US.

Process Metrix makes laser units used to measure refractory wear in vessels used in the steel-making process.

The acquisitions are the first Vesuvius has made following its de-merger from Cookson PLC in 2012.