The better performance at the plants contrasted with tough trading that the company’s UK business faced in the hazardous waste sector.
In preliminary results for the financial year 2000/2001 published yesterday, the company reported that UK trading profit fell by 1.7 million to 30.7 million (1999/2000: 32.4 million) “as a result of difficult trading conditions in certain markets”.
Shanks said its Waste Services southern operations performed well with higher volumes and prices bolstering landfill profits. However, its sludge to land work was hit by the bad weather and the foot and mouth crisis. And, another negative sector was the landfill sector which saw lower landfill volumes and more contaminated spoil in the North of England and Scotland.
Shanks overall results saw profit up by 20% at 45.1 million, largely due to acquisitions in Holland. Group turnover also soared by 60% to 502 million.
To give the company’s board a stronger continental knowledge, Belgian Pierre Delaunois has been appointed to the Board as a non-executive director. He was previously chief executive of Cockerill Sambre, the Belgian steel maker.
Shanks chairman Gordon Waddell commented: “The group now has a substantial presence in continental Europe and will continue to benefit from this geographic spread, and in time, from the adoption in the UK of practices similar to those already in place in the Netherlands. The group is confident of progress in the current year as a whole and expects a more even performance between the two halves.”
Several Shanks developments are planned for the UK. In Scotland the company is the preferred bidder for the waste management contract for Argyll and Bute and it will open a new landfill site in Aberdeen this autumn. A new energy plant is to open this summer in southern England.
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