Viridor pays £7.6m for waste collection firm

LISTED water and waste management specialist Pennon Group has increased its North West footprint with a £7.6m acquisition.

The group’s subsidiary, Viridor Waste Management – which is a key partner in the Greater Manchester waste recycling PFI – has bought Atherton company JWT Holdings, a waste collection and recycling business.

JWT, which was previously owned by founder John William Thomasson, has 45 staff and handles around 70,000 tonnes of waste materials a year.

 The total consideration was £7.6m –  £6.58m of cash plus the group’s net debt.

Pennon said the acquisition is in line with its strategy of expanding its waste management activities, particularly in the collection, recycling and energy recovery sectors.

JWT has a materials recycling facility and a fleet of 29 vehicles which will be integrated into Viridor’s northern region, complementing the commercial collection services based at Trafford Park.

Colin Drummond, chief executive of Viridor said: “The acquisition of JWT provides excellent synergies with Viridor’s existing activities in Manchester and across the North West.

“It complements other recent acquisitions in the region and Viridor’s development of the UK’s largest waste fired Combined Heat and Power facility at Runcorn, the first phase of which will be operational in 2013.  The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in its first full year.”