Shanks Group, the waste management company with long-standing roots in Scotland, yesterday unveiled a 15% rise in annual profits, and named Tom Drury, the former executive director of United Utilities, as its chief executive.
The company, which began life in the 1800s as a West of Scotland construction firm but in the 1980s moved into the waste management business, also said it was well-placed for growth because demand for recycling would continue to climb.
A spokesman said rising landfill taxes and new regulations were also expected to keep its recycling business buoyant in the future.
Profit from continuing operations before exceptionals and tax, boosted also by acquisitions, came in £39.2m for the year to the end of March, compared with £34m the previous year.
The spokesman said: "Recent acquisitions, especially Smink in the Netherlands, together with strong organic growth, delivered substantially improved results."
However, the strong performance from its foreign subsidiaries was offset by weaker domestic growth.
The results revealed that the company's contaminated land services, which clean contaminated sites before construction, slowed sharply and the contribution from its government waste contracts decreased.
Nonetheless, the company added: "In the UK, Shanks is well-placed to exploit growth opportunities within the rapidly evolving municipal market." Shanks said it expects the market for contaminated land services to improve this year, with opportunities to decontaminate sites that will be used for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Although no longer based in Scotland, following a number of acquisitions, strategy shifts and a stock exchange flotation in 1988, Shanks has retained a wide Scottish shareholder base.
The company's former sanitaryware factory in Barrhead pioneered much of what we take for granted in the bathroom.
Around 15% of Shanks' issued share capital is owned by Scots, who will have been particularly pleased with yesterday's increases.
Shares in Shanks rose 1.9%, or 5p, to 272p, valuing the group at around £637m.
Meanwhile, the firm yesterday said it had high hopes for its mechanical biological treatment, which turns waste into fuel, as the government seeks to curb the use of landfill sites and encourage waste recycling.
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