Regulations waste time for Augean
YORKSHIRE-BASED hazardous waste company Augean is looking forward to a year of progress after a frustrating 2007 which saw uncertainty over new waste regulations and the departure of its chief executive.
The Wetherby-based group today said that its results for the year to December 31 would be “broadly in line with market expectations”.
It said growth this year would depend on when and if new Government regulations on hazardous waste are introduced. Last year it said market growth in the hazardous waste business “remained constrained by uncertainty around the timetable for effective implementation of the change in regulation”.
New chief executive Paul Blackler, who stepped up from commercial director and is the third man at Augean's helm in less than 18 months, will be hoping that the group's twin operations to provide landfill for hazardous waste and treating the waste before it goes underground, can benefit from the new regulations sooner rather than later.
In a statement, the group said: “The directors expect further progress to be made in the current year, with the level of growth achieved remaining in part dependent on conditions in the sector.”
It said that a sales development plan had helped deliver improvement in its treatment division during the second half of last year. That will be boosted by the acquisitions of Chemical Recoveries in November and Hitech Equipment in December for a combined cost of almost £12m.
It said volumes in its landfill division were 235,000 tonnes last year “with prices remaining stable”.
It said its join venture soil treatment operation, Terramundo near Middlesbrough, has had an encouraging start with volumes at 12,000 tonnes during the period. “Terramundo is anticipated to continue to grow and make a positive contribution in 2008,” it added.
Augean, which is named after the stables that, in Greek mythology, Hercules laboured to clear out, will report its full-year results on March 11.
