Preliminary results published today (June 5) indicate profits at the company, which is a subsidiary of Pennon Group, rose by 24% in 2007-08, from £46.8 million the previous year to £58.1 million, with revenue increasing by 23.8% to £455.1 million.
There's so much potential for waste and the waste renewables sector, I can't think of a better place to be at present
Colin Drummond, Viridor
Speaking to letsrecycle.com today, Viridor's chief executive, Colin Drummond, said: “Our profit has been growing at 24% annually since 2000, I'm not aware of anyone else in the waste industry with a result that good.”
Profits
Landfill remains the largest arm of Viridor's operations, contributing 48% of its profits last year, as a result of inputs growing by 5.2 million tonnes and the annual revenue per tonne increasing by 2.5%.
However, while Viridor has gained planning consents for an additional 2.4 million cubic metres of landfill since April 2008, Mr Drummond acknowledged that “landfill capacity in the UK will decline and less capacity has been consented”.
The company has also made moves into extracting renewable energy from waste, increasing production of landfill gas by 13%, and continuing to build the 200,000 tonne-capacity Lakeside Energy-from-Waste facility as a joint venture Grundon Waste Management, while planning permission has also been obtained for its 60,000 tonne EfW plant in Exeter.
Mr Drummond enthused about the possibilities for these technologies; with EfW currently providing 6% of total UK renewable electricity and 24% coming from landfill gas, he explained that “this percentage can grow hugely.
“We could readily get to 5-6% of the UK's electricity coming from waste in the next 10-15 years or so,” he claimed. “I certainly hope that the government pays more attention to that.”
And, as a result of this, he said: “There's so much potential for waste and the waste renewables sector, I can't think of a better place to be at present.”
Acquisitions
The past 12 months have also seen the company make significant acquisitions to expand its share of the recycling industry, with the purchase of Grosvenor Waste Management in December 2007 for £81 million (see letsrecycle.com story ), and Shore Recycling for £23 million this March (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Drummond explained that both companies had been integrated into Viridor's existing operations, and was particularly positive about the benefits of Grosvenor's “good overseas network of reprocessors”.
And, with regards the company's future prospects he stated that “we'll continue to grow the business but we're ruthlessly driven our by shareholders.”
He added: “If things come forward at the right price where they can add value for shareholders then we'll look at them.”
In the short term, Viridor's biggest priority is to achieve financial close, with partner Laing, on the multi-billion pound contract that will see them deliver Greater Manchester's waste treatment services for 25 years.
With the final confirmation of the deal expected imminently (see letsrecycle.com story), Mr Drummond remained confident that, once agreement was reached, the Viridor-Laing partnership would be able to deliver the services promised.
“We've been working a lot in the Manchester area already,” he said. “All the things that we're going to do there, we've done elsewhere.”
“We know and value the existing Manchester team, and we'll be working with them,” he added.
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