Logistics group Brambles has announced plans to sell its waste management arm Cleanaway, which employs 8,000 people in the UK.
The Group is selling Cleanaway in an effort to concentrate on its more profitable palletleasing and data management arms of CHEP and Recall.
Cleanaway, which is best known for its blue street-cleaning vans, also handles hazardous waste and provides ground maintenance and landscaping to more than 50 customers. During the last financial year it had a turnover of £495m in the UK.
Cleanaway’s International branches will also be disposed of within the next 12 months, along with its industrial devices and regional business divisions. Last month Brambles sold the European arm of Cleanaway but said its larger UK branch was not for sale. It raised £387m from the sale of Cleanaway Germany to SULO, the German waste management group. At the time a spokesman said: “There are currently no plans to sell any of the remaining Cleanaway businesses.” Analysts value Cleanaway UK, Britain‘s biggest waste management group, at about £470 million.
Brambles’ Industrial Services operates in the UK, France, the Netherlands, America and Australia, offering mainly haulage and waste recycling services for the steel industry. Its regional businesses include Interlake, the largest manufacturer of storage racks in the Americas, and Paris-based Eurotrainer, which manages the transportation of liquids, powers and gases. For the year to June 30, Industrial Services and regional businesses generated a combined operating profit of £93 million for the group.
CHEP, which operates in 42 countries and Recall, which operates in 23, produced a combined operating profit of £337m, 72 per cent of Brambles’ total operating profits. Mr Turner, said: “Both CHEP and Recall continue to have significant growth opportunities in their respective markets.”
