DCC acquires British recycling firm for €8.7m

DCC has continued its expansion, through acquisition, in the British waste management sector and has promised more purchases to come.

The group yesterday announced the £5.8 million (€8.7m) acquisition of a 90% stake in the Nottingham-based recycling and non-hazardous waste management business, Wastecycle.

A further consideration of up to £5.4m (€8m) could be paid, depending on profits earned in each of the three financial years to March 31, 2010.

“This is a further building block in DCCs strategy to build a significant waste recycling business in Britain. The industry there is increasingly moving away from landfill and companies with specialist recycling expertise and facilities are poised for strong growth,” DCC chief executive and deputy chairman, Jim Flavin said yesterday.

The Nottingham purchase follows DCCs recent acquisition of 50% of the William Tracey group of businesses — a leader in the Scottish recycling sector. The outstanding 10% of Wastecycle has been acquired by Michael Tracey, managing director of William Tracey.

Wastecycle caters for commercial, industrial and local authority customers and recycles approximately 75% of all waste on its own site. It is forecasting operating profits of £1.5m (€2.2m) on turnover of £11.3m (€16.7m) for 2006.

With regard to further acquisitions by DCC, Mr Flavin said that there would be more, but the timescale — and whether they would be made in the second-half of the group’s current financial year, was less clear.

He said that the group was eager to grow organically but also to add bolt-on acquisitions in its oil distribution and environmental businesses.

Mr Flavin didn’t rule out a move into alternative energy in the future, but said bio-diesel, rather than wind farms, would be the probable route.