Meet The Industry’s 50 Fastest Growing Companies

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CIWMThe journal for wasTe & resource managemenT professionals

February 2010The CIWM Journal

100 years1910 - 2010

The phrase “in the current economic climate” has become a staple of our vocabulary in the last 12 months, but I make

no apologies for using it again here when I say that when I was offered the opportunity to run an article on the fastest 50 growing businesses in the waste industry, my response was: “Some positive stories on business growth? In the current economic climate? Yes please!”

Our colleagues at Catalyst Corporate Finance, the company behind our successful “Top 20” series of articles carried out the research and have provided us with an impressive list of 50 waste-based businesses that are beating the recession to return some very impressive figures… as the table opposite shows. However, in the tradition of all good chart countdowns, you’ll have to turn the page to uncover those from 10 to two, with our winner profiled on page 22.

What I can tell you now, without giving the game away, was that the company that tops the list really was a run-away winner. A compound annual growth rate of more than 170 percent saw it more than double that of even the second-placed business.

Of course, posting any positive growth rate should be considered a major success, and those businesses such as Glasdon, Ramshorn and Biffa, placed at 48, 49 and 50 in the list, have themselves delivered a fantastic performance, which brings us nicely onto a breakdown of the primary sectors of the Waste Fast 50.

Waste management businesses accounted for 34 percent of the top 50, with some of the industry’s most

recognised names – the aforementioned Biffa, along with Grundon, Cory, Hills Waste Solutions and Bywaters – making further strides forward, but it is some newer names that have burst into the top 10.

Equipment suppliers and manufacturers accounted for eight of the top 50, while organics, plastics, aggregates, electricals, paper, glass, clinical waste, landfill and mobile phones were all represented, showing that recyclers across the board were capable of achieving growth.

Catalyst also noted that more than 20 percent of the companies listed were backed by a private equity firm, including our number one and two placed businesses. Outside of the top 10, these also included Enviroco, AWS Eco Plastics, OSS Environmental, MRS Environmental, PHS All Clear, Agrivert, Cory Environmental and Biffa.

Catalyst also looked at the size of the businesses listed, noting that the majority have annual sales of less than £50m (84 percent), with just eight of the top 50 achieving sales of more than £50m.

The majority of businesses listed have also been in existence for a number of years – typically more than a decade. Despite that statistic, the top two businesses are both relatively young –

our second placed business starting operation in only 2006! Organic growth has also been a prominent feature of the top 50 but, once again, our second placed business proves the exception to the rule having completed three bolt-on acquisitions.

“The waste industry’s Fast 50 makes fascinating reading because there is so much movement in candidates that qualify as private groups,” said Mark Wilson. “We expect other new entrants in next year’s review as larger players dispose of their non-core subsidiaries and they enter private or financial ownership.”

Verdant and Shore Recycling would have both been included in the 50, had they not been acquired, according to Catalyst’s criteria (fully explained on page 22), while Wilson added: “The full effects of commodity price volatility and reduced commercial and industrial waste levels have not yet been reflected in the reported figures, so we can expect the 2011 Waste Fast 50 to look a little different.”

Congratulations to our top 10, and especially to our outstanding winner, and we hope you find the data makes interesting reading… and here’s to further industry growth in 2011. CIWM

Waste’s Fast Following on from their article on the waste industry’s top 20 companies, Mark Wilson and Robert Pearce of Catalyst Corporate Finance turn their attention to the 50 fastest growing companies in the waste industry, as introduced by Ben Wood

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Company Primary Business LFY CAGR Turnover Website

11 Enviroco Limited Hazardous / Oils 2008 38 28,197 cutwastecosts.com

12 AWS ECO Plastics Limited Plastic 2008 32 10,193 jayplas.co.uk

13 Futur Limited Equipment 2008 29 16,308 futurwaste.co.uk

14 Stirling Fibre Limited Paper 2008 28 20,856 stirlingfibre.co.uk

15 G.B.N. Services Limited Skips 2008 27 7,902 gbnservices.co.uk

16 OSS Environmental Holdings Ltd Hazardous / Oils 2008 25 24,964 ossgroupltd.com

17 Ascot Environmental Limited1 Equipment 2008 25 65,731 planetgroup.co.uk

18 T J Transport Limited Aggregates 2008 25 14,393 tj-waste.co.uk

19 ECO Sustainable Solutions Limited Organic 2008 24 5,634 thisiseco.co.uk

20 Centrol Recycling Group Limited Regional WM 2008 23 19,537 centrolgroup.co.uk

21 Avondale Environmental Limited Landfill 2008 23 22,963 avondalelandfill.co.uk

22 Roydon Holdings Limited Plastic 2008 19 17,875 roydon.com

23 Environmental Waste Controls Ltd Regional WM 2008 19 23,526 ewc.eu.com

24 Blue Machinery (Spares) Limited Equipment 2009 18 6,083 bluemachinerycentral.com

25 WasteCare2 Electrical 2008 17 18,449 wastecare.co.uk

26 Harpers Environmental Limited Organic 2009 16 8,448 eharper.co.uk

27 MRS Environmental Services Limited Regional WM 2008 16 25,808

28 Grundon Waste Management Ltd Regional WM 2008 16 82,321 grundon.com

29 Cleansing Service Group Limited Regional WM 2008 15 44,367 csgwasteman.co.uk

30 O’Donovan (Waste Disposal) Limited Skips 2008 15 11,928 odonovan.co.uk

31 PHS All Clear Limited Regional WM 2009 14 52,936 phs.co.uk

32 Silent Valley Waste Services Limited Regional WM 2009 13 6,841

33 H. Sivyer Transport Limited Aggregates 2008 13 12,166 hsivyer.com

34 Cumbria Waste Management Ltd Regional WM 2009 12 13,488 cumbriawaste.co.uk

35 Agrivert Limited Organic 2008 12 7,940 agrivert.co.uk

36 Cliniserve Limited Clinical 2009 12 12,081 cliniserve.co.uk

37 Hills Waste Solutions Limited Regional WM 2008 11 53,916 hills-group.co.uk

38 Reuse Collections Limited Glass 2008 11 30,129 berryman-uk.co.uk

39 Premier Waste (UK) Holdings PLC Regional WM 2008 11 5,226 premierwasteuk.com

40 ACM Waste Management PLC Equipment 2009 10 9,986 acmplc.com

41 Devon Waste Management Limited Regional WM 2009 9 16,652 devonwaste.co.uk

42 Bywaters (Leyton) Limited Regional WM 2009 8 25,567 bywaters.co.uk

43 Taurus Waste Recycling (Holdings) Ltd Skips 2008 8 12,040 taurus-waste.com

44 Whale Tankers Limited Equipment 2008 8 24,650 whale.co.uk

45 Castle Environmental Limited Hazardous / Oils 2008 8 11,392 castle-environmental.co.uk

46 Chambers Waste Management PLC Regional WM 2008 8 11,137 chambers-group.co.uk

47 Cory Environmental Holdings Ltd National WM 2008 7 201,518 coryenvironmental.co.uk

48 Biffa Limited National WM 2008 4 776,500 biffa.co.uk

49 Ramshorn Limited Equipment 2008 4 17,640 skipunits.co.uk

50 Glasdon Group Limited Equipment 2008 3 32,274 glasdon.com

1 Ascot Environmental Limited is the primary trading entity within UK Capital Venture (Holdings) Limited 2 WasteCare is the trading name of Silver Lining (Holdings) Limited

LFY refers to the latest financial year for which data was availableCAGR refers to the company’s compound annual growth rateTurnover is measured in thousands GBP for the last available year

Table 1: the Waste Fast 50 companies as ranked from 50 to 11

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GSS Support Services LimitedPrimary Business: Regional WMLFY: 2009CAGR: 50%Turnover: 7 442Web: www.gdd-supportservices.co.uk

Celtic Recycling LimitedPrimary Business: ElectricalLFY: 2008CAGR: 39%Turnover: 7 838Web: www.celtic-recycling.co.uk

Enpure Holdings LimitedPrimary Business: EquipmentLFY: 2009CAGR: 51%Turnover: 81 417Web: www.enpure.co.uk

J&A Young (Holdings) LimitedPrimary Business: PlasticLFY: 2008CAGR: 56%Turnover: 43 525Web: www.jayplas.co.uk

Choice Waste Management LimitedPrimary Business: ExporterLFY: 2008CAGR: 39%Turnover: 16 329Web: www.choicewastemanagement.com

ESTABlISHED In 1975, J&A Young leads the plastics specialists in the Waste Fast 50 – a strong category with three companies in the top 25.

Its five sites, covering Birmingham, Loughborough, Derby and Manchester employ the latest technologies and the company currently collects and recycles post-consumer waste from several major retailers, which is used in the production of refuse sacks and builders film, to name just a couple of the recycled products on offer. Its sorting plant in Derby is the only plastic sorting facility in the UK capable of separating all polymers within a plastic bottle grade, by both type and colour.

CHOICE WASTE Management recycles plastic, paper and cardboard waste. The company was established by Rizwan Iqbal in 1997 after identifying opportunities throughout the world in waste recycling, and started by exporting plastic packaging waste.

From its small origins the company has since grown into an organisation that is now an accredited exporter of packaging waste (being able to issue PERns), a registered waste carrier and also registered as an exporter of waste materials to China with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection & Quarantine of the P.R. of China (AQSIQ).

CElTIC RECYClInG describes itself as a specialist in the recovery and recycling of end of life heavy electrical equipment, as well as hazardous waste treatment and disposal, and it has used the skills developed in response to the electricity industry demands to grow its business in other sectors with plant or equipment disposal needs, such as rail network operators and major power users.

Based in Bridgend since 1993, the company has made notable strides, with 2010 seeing it set to look at making innovative use of bar code technology to track movements of hazardous and non-hazardous waste consignments for enhanced auditing and monitoring purposes.

EnPURE IS a process engineering business offering services from design through to construction for the environmental and industrial sectors. Operating in the UK and overseas, the company turned its attention to the solid waste market early in 2000 and is one of three businesses in the top 10 to be backed by a private equity firm – Spirit & Maven.

It is a design-led business supported by effective project delivery. It offers services from concept and feasibility studies, through design and build, to operational support services. Enpure offers both its own key technologies and those of others, including autoclaving, aerobic and anaerobic MBT, materials recover and fuel preparation.

GSS, AS its name suggests, is a multi-service support organisation, providing a range of specialist services in areas that are non-core activities for its clients, including waste management, recycling and cleaning services, hence its inclusion in the Waste Fast 50.

With access to UK, European and worldwide recycling markets, GSS’ waste management services include fully managing its clients’ waste streams and generating revenues, while it has also developed an expertise in managing WEEE, but its primary goal remains waste minimization. It strives, where possible, to return recycled materials to its clients to make a truly closed loop system.

THE RIVERDAlE Paper Group started life as Riverdale Recycling, offering services for the recovery and recycling of all types of paper and board. The organisation has grown through the addition of other business services and now consists of three separate, specialist divisions of security shredding, paper recycling and waste recovery.

Riverdale Security Shredding now provides a comprehensive data destruction service, encompassing the secure disposal of all types of digital media and equipment, whilst the Group’s recycling services have broadened to include all types of waste recovery and disposal with the establishment of Riverdale Waste.

Riverdale Paper PLCPrimary Business: PaperLFY: 2008CAGR: 39%Turnover: 7 281Web: www.riverdalepaper.plc.uk

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Reconomy (Holdings) LimitedPrimary Business: Regional WMLFY: 2008CAGR: 84%Turnover: 74 527Web: www.reconomy.com

Community Waste LtdPrimary Business: Regional WMLFY: 2009CAGR: 68%Turnover: 14 519Web: www.communitywaste.org

HW Martin Waste LimitedPrimary Business: Regional WMLFY: 2009CAGR: 62%Turnover: 26 704Web: www.hwmartin.com

THE MARTIn Group of companies has delivered public and private works contracts for over 30 years. The Group’s key areas of activity are waste recycling and management; traffic management systems; commercial fencing and vegetation management; permanent and temporary road safety barriers; and plant and vehicle provision and maintenance.

The waste recycling and management division, HW Martin Waste ltd, collects, separates, bales and provides re-processors with glass, plastics, paper, card, metals, concrete & rubble, wood and garden waste. Recycled materials go back into the manufacturing process to make new products including bottles, paper and aggregates. The green waste is composted and used in agriculture, horticulture and domestic gardens. The companies waste management services also include operating household waste recycling centre’s, Materials Recycling Facilities and managing transfer stations and collection contracts.

HW Martin has a rolling programme of research into new outlets for recyclable materials. The company diverts over 300 000 tonnes of recyclable material each year and it says “none of it goes to landfill”.

AT A time when many businesses are diversifying in order to grow, it is refreshing to read almost immediately on Community Waste’s website that it considers itself a “recycling company” not a “waste management business”. Among the services it offers, however, is not only the handling of recyclable waste, but the design, construction and operation of materials recovery facilities (MRFs), the marketing of recyclable materials and a full audit trail.

Working with paper, glass, plastics and metals, Community Waste currently handles 200 000 tonnes of recyclables per annum and it has its own environmental objective to achieve 100 percent diversion from landfill by finding new markets for all other materials that are part of its own dedicated Materials Expansion Research Program.

The company has four MRFs, in West Oxfordshire, Doncaster, Sheffield and Milton Keynes (MK), with the 93 000 tonne per annum MK site standing as an example of Community Waste’s expertise in design, construction and operation. In December 2009 it signed a 15-year, £150m contract to continue sorting dry recyclables on behalf of Milton Keynes Council – the sort of development that has helped propel the company into the top three fastest growing waste businesses in the UK.

OF All the companies in the Fast 50 Reconomy was one of only a few to be formed less than 10 years ago and is one of only 20 percent of businesses to be PE backed. It was also recognised for adopting the “buy and build” strategy whereby a company initially invests in a business platform and then acquires smaller business to bolt on.

Reconomy Holdings ltd was formed in July 2006 to develop a business in the UK recycling and waste management sector. To date, is has made 12 acquisitions and the business has annualised turnover of approximately £80m.

The largest part of the group is currently Reconomy Solutions, the leading national outsourced waste services provider, which operates nationwide recycling focused waste management and compliance services.

In addition, Reconomy has to date acquired a total of seven businesses, operating in the East Midlands and East Anglia regions, providing a broad range of recycling and waste management services to customers in the commercial and industrial sector. These businesses have been re-branded as Reconomy Oakley, Reconomy Alibone and Anglia Recycling. These brands are being developed through further investment in sorting and processing facilities in order to minimise the amount of waste going to landfill.

Reconomy completed the acquisition of nutrafeed, a company specialising in recycling packaged food wastes, based in Wrexham.

Mark Wilson, Catalyst Corporate Finance, said: “Reconomy is a well known example of a private equity backed waste business pursuing a rapid buy-and-build strategy. I know that it is well known to many regional operators and there is a lot of interest throughout the industry as to how successful its growth model will ultimately turn out to be.”

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Waste Fast 50 Methodology The Catalyst Corporate Finance Waste Fast 50 2010 ranks the fastest growing private waste services businesses in the UK by sales.Criteria for inclusion: the Waste Fast 50 assesses waste services businesses which are registered in the UK as private, independent and unquoted companies. This category includes private companies that are backed by private equity houses. All companies considered for inclusion in the Waste Fast 50 achieved a level of annual sales of £5m or above in at least one of the three financial years assessed.

Exclusions: companies which have filed abbreviated accounts at Companies House without disclosing sales levels are excluded. Unaudited management accounts are not accepted due to the absence of any third party validation. Companies that have any shares or other financial instruments listed on a stock exchange, or where any of their shares are held by any UK or overseas quoted company, do not qualify for inclusion. Metal recyclers have been deliberately excluded as this represents a very distinct niche within the recycling industry.

Data-collection methods: companies have been identified through several research methods including the analysis of information from Companies House, financial databases, press coverage and other research.

Any firm which believes that it may not automatically be included in the 2011 Fast 50 due to the unavailability of public statutory accounts information but which believes it has a verifiable case for inclusion, is invited to contact Robert Pearce of Catalyst Corporate Finance at robertpearce@catalystcf.co.uk

Eazyfone LimitedPrimary Business: Mobile PhonesLFY: 2009CAGR: 172%Turnover: 36 246Web: www.eazyfone.com

DESCRIBED BY the authors of this research as “by far the fastest growing waste recycling business”, Eazyfone registered a compound annual growth rate of 172 percent, more than double that of even the second placed Reconomy – a truly outstanding performance and made all the more impressive by the fact that the mobile phone recycling sector was not the best represented in the top 50. In fact, its only representative in the top 50 was Eazyfone!

Eazyfone is also one of the youngest companies in the top 50, being formed in the last decade (in 2001), but growing rapidly over the last three years in particular. Unlike many of the companies listed here, whose customers are local authorities and corporate clients, Eazyfone’s customer base is purely private consumers, and Catalyst expects to see even further growth from the business as it exports its business model to Europe and expands its service to other, associated products, such as MP3 players, digital cameras, laptops and satellite navigation systems in the near future. But what exactly does it do?

Eazyfone Limited is comprised of five brands: FoneAid, Envirostudents, Fones4Schools, Envirocharities and its most prominent brand, Envirofone.com. Envirofone is a mobile phone recycling operation that collects and refurbished old handsets and either remarkets or recycles them, and is the most recognised and high profile of the Eazyfone stable/ The Envirofone brand was added to the Eazyfone range in 2005 and remains committed to supporting a greener environment… and this is how.

The company strives to re-use every phone it receives and grades them all accordingly, paying the sender an appropriate fee depending on the model and its quality. Those that can be used or easily refurbished go into stock for re-sale, while those that cannot be re-used are reprocessed, valuable components recovered and the remainder smelted for energy recovery.

The handsets are recovered from individuals and charity

organisations, and Envirofone has paid out more than £30m to its customers to date. As part of its commitment to the environment it has provided funds to help save endangered rainforests, and under the Envirocharirities brand you will find such organisations as Barnados, Age Concern, Caudwell Children’s Recycles and Rainforest Concern.

Managing director, nick Brown (pictured atop a pile of mobile phone handsets), has been with the business since June 2008 and he told CIWM: “Eazyfone – trading as Envirofone – has enjoyed an exceptional year’s growth. The hard work and dedication of our team has really paid off, and our strategic business plan is reaping impressive dividends. We’re thrilled to be listed in CIWM’s Waste Fast 50 and look forward to continued success in 2010.”

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