WasteCare recharges with £3.5m-turnover battery business buy
LEEDS-BASED waste management business WasteCare Group has bought the entirety of BatteryBack, a battery recycling business, from JV partner Veolia. WasteCare Group and Veolia ES (UK) have been running the business as a joint venture since 2010.
The deal will see WasteCare take on full ownership of the battery business as a wholly owned subsidiary of the group.
In its latest available accounts, Leeds-based BatteryBack turned over £3.53m for the year to 31 December 2014, slightly down on the year before when it returned £3.82m with pre-tax profits of £212,014.
Peter Hunt, chairman of the WasteCare Group said: “We are delighted to announce this news. WasteCare is already the largest collector of portable batteries in the UK; combining this with the UK’s largest Battery Producer Compliance Scheme, we are best placed to benefit from economies of scale and provide the lowest sustainable obligation costs.
“Currently, obligation costs in the UK are a fraction of those in the rest of Europe. It is our intention to keep it this way.
“We have had an excellent relationship with Veolia from the inception of BatteryBack in 2008 and we envisage this will continue long into the future.With the challenges ahead, it was agreed that one owner would be more effective than two.” To ensure the UK fulfils its recycling obligations for portable battery recycling in the coming years we plan to treble the number of recycling points to over 100,000, focusing on schools, public buildings and the work environment.
BatteryBack is reportedly responsible for collecting and recycling over 60% of all the portable batteries recycled in the UK.
The share purchase deal was supported by David Smithies of the NatWest Commercial Leeds office, in turn supported by Clarion.
Chris Blantern at Schofield Sweeney Solicitors and Robert Solyom, partner at Brown Butler, the company’s auditors also advised on the deal.
David Smithies of NatWest commented: “WasteCare Group continues to expand its activities in the environmental services sector and this latest acquisition further strengthens its brand and position in the market. NatWest is proud to support Peter and his team.”
