Sluggish market holds back Mercury’s rise

SLOWER sales of lighting products has had a detrimental impact on Mercury Recycling, which recycles fluorescent light tubes and sodium street lights.

The Manchester business said lamp and tube manufacturers saw sales fall by as much as 30% last year due to the recession.

Fewer lamps to recycle, together with a squeeze on prices and margins, led to a 9% drop in sales to £2.7m in the year to December 31. Pre-tax profits fell 37% to £333,000.

Chairman Lord Barnett lamented “disappointingly low” recycling levels and called on Government to improve public awareness of the necessity to recycle hazardous tubes and lamps.

Mercury also sees potential in recycling mercury-bearing flat screen TVs. It predicts these screens will account for around 200,000 tonnes of hazardous waste every year. The business has also identified battery recycling as a possible growth area.

Lord Barnett, said: “Your directors are quite satisfied with the performance of the company and, as new lamp and tube sales recover, then the benefits will come through to the company taking up our spare capacity.”

The board decided against paying a dividend but this position will be reviewed.