Revenues reach £61m at Augean as it adds firepower to acquisiton arsenal

WASTE management business Augean has cleaned up with its full-year results.

For the year to 31 December, revenue increased by 11% to £61.0m.

Pre-tax profits increased by 12% to £6.0m.

Outlook for 2016 looks bright, with chief executive Dr Stewart Davies predicting further growth and an increase in profitability, although the company did say that the impact of the revised Landfill Tax in December 2015 on volumes of waste sent to landfill has not yet been made apparent.

A three-year turnaround plan is in place to extend the range of services Augean offers and an increase in market penetration.

Augean has also increased their lending facilities from £13m to £20m, with further headroom up to £30m to acquire businesses that support their five main sectors.

Augean is headquartered in Wetherby and specialises in hazardous, construction and energy from waste. The business employs 343 staff, up from 279 in 2014, has been particularly strong in the energy and construction sector, due to an upturn in the industry in the first half of the year.

Dr Stewart Davies, chief executive officer, said:”We’re entering the third year of our strategy with five businesses each driving growth. There has been significant progress, double digit growth in all the main financials, which is encouraging.”

Mr Davies said that they were strengthening these businesses, each led by a sector specialist from the industry they serve, and have won key contracts as a result of the diversification of the business.

“What we’re finding is that our strategy of combining waste services with support is paying dividends. We’re also exploring investment opportunities, through non-organic growth and have just completed bank refinancing to enable us to do this.

“In terms of 2016 we’ve experienced an encouraging start,with further contract wins with top tier customers, and this helps us with forward visibility.

Finance director Richard Laker said that the business expects to continue on the track of organic growth, aiming for double digits, with non-organic opportunities supplementing it.

He said: “With net debt of only £4.3m, we think we have the firepower from our own balance sheet to pursue growth.”