Sims continues post-Covid recovery with ‘excellent’ results

The Australian-owned company said this was a 180% improvement on the first half of the 2021 financial year.

The results cover the period between 1 July and 31 December 2021.

Sims added that its total trading margins in the UK “lifted” by 39.6% in comparison to the first half of 2021, driven by higher sales prices and “disciplined margin management”.

Though the results represent an improvement on 2021, some aspects of the business have yet to recover to where they were prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sims says proprietary intake volumes in the first half of 2022 were “flat” when compared to the first half of 2021.

The metals recycler’s average intake volumes were just 86% of the levels they reached in the 2019 financial year.

Sims attributes the decline to a combination of yard closures and the various impacts of Covid-19.

Group

Globally, Sims Limited announced profits before tax of A$361.7 million (£191.5 million) in the first half of the 2022 financial year, 541% higher than in the first half of 2021.

We delivered an excellent performance in the first half of 2022

• Alistair Field, Sims’ CEO and managing director

The company attributed its “strong earnings growth” to higher sales volumes and higher material prices, combined again with “disciplined margin management”.

Alistair Field, Sims Limited’s CEO and managing director, said: “We delivered an excellent performance in the first half of 2022 with earnings above guidance, driven by growth in trading margin, against a backdrop of volatile freight markets and inflationary pressures.

“We significantly improved our operating cash flow from the second half of the 2021 financial year, increased cash returns to shareholders, and maintained the strength of our balance sheet.

“Intake volumes grew strongly and were close to pre-Covid levels, highlighting the continued strength of our metal businesses.”

Ferrous and non-ferrous

Founded in Australia in 1917, Sims specialises in ferrous and non-ferrous metals recycling, post-consumer electronic goods recycling, and municipal waste recycling.

The company’s nearly 4,000 employees operate from more than 200 facilities across 15 countries.

In the UK, Sims operates more than 40 metals recycling sites.

Last year, Sims suffered two large fires in the space of just eight months at its waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling site in Dunkirk, Nottinghamshire (see letsrecycle.com story).