Leicestershire brick-maker sells US business in £85.4m deal

Leicestershire based brick-maker Ibstock has sold its US business, Glen-Gery, for £85.4m to Australian firm Brickworks.

Ibstock says the cash from the sale will be used to repay debt, which it says will be around £50m by the end of 2018.

Ibstock chief executive, Joe Hudson, said: “At the interim results in August we announced that we were undertaking a strategic review of certain aspects of our business, including our US operations, with a further update to be given at the full year results in March 2019.

“We have concluded that opportunities to grow the US business are not in line with our overall strategic objectives, and the decision was taken to dispose of these assets and refocus the Group on its core markets here in the UK. Following a competitive process, we believe that this is the best outcome for both Glen-Gery and Ibstock plc.

“I would like to thank our colleagues at Glen-Gery for their hard work and professionalism and we wish them the very best for the future.

“This divestment augments our strong underlying cashflow generation, leaving us with a strong balance sheet. Our capital allocation and shareholder return priorities remain unchanged, and we continue to assess both organic and inorganic investment options in the UK as we look to deliver long term growth.”

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