The Suez group acquired Suez Recycling and Recovery UK back from Veolia for around £2 billion in December 2022, so its UK operations only contributed €78.3m in revenue and €4.9 million to earnings.
The waste management company however did post restated revenues as if the Suez UK acquisition had occurred on 1 January 2022. Here, UK revenues are reported at €1.17 billion with earnings before tax of £159.5 million.
Including its other acquisitions had they taken place on 1 January, restated revenues would be €8.8 billion and earnings before tax would be €1.4 billion.
A statement from Suez said: “In 2022, SUEZ’s results were solid, driven by a sound operational performance and three major acquisitions in South Africa, France, and the United Kingdom, representing 12-month revenues of €1.5 billion and more than 8,000 employees: EnviroServ, the leading waste management company in South Africa (September 2022), IWS, the leading hazardous waste company in France (November 2022) and SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK (December 2022).”
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Suez explained in its full financial results that work is being carried out to harmonise “accounting principles” at Suez UK after the acquisition and “determine the fair value of assets and liabilities acquired”. This will be completed by the end of this year.
The acquisition was completed in December 2022 after Veolia was ordered by the Competitions and Markets Authority to sell the UK waste arm of Suez over fears it would lessen competition (see letsrecycle.com story).
This made Suez the third largest waste recycling and recovery company in the UK, behind Veolia and Biffa, with a “unique position in developing new waste treatment activities in line with recent national regulatory developments”.
Suez’s UK business operates along the entire waste value chain, from collection to processing to energy recovery.
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