Breedon Group – the £1.4 billion turnover construction materials and quarrying giant – has announced some big changes.
The Leicestershire-headquartered group said it has completed its move from the AIM stock exchange to the Main Market. It has also acquired Lincolnshire surfacing and civil engineering firm Minster Group, and it has also agreed to play a bigger part in trying to cut emissions in the cement and lime industries within the Peak District.
Management said trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange would further enhance its corporate profile. It would also allow index tracker funds and a broader group of international institutional investors to put money into the group.
The business has grown exponentially since its 2010 launch, when it operated 29 quarries in Great Britain.
Today it has a billion tonnes of mineral reserves and resources and operate more than 300 sites across the UK and Ireland. It employs around 3,700 people.
Chief executive Rob Wood said: “As an established business with a track record for growth and value creation, we believe the move to the Main Market will support Breedon in the delivery of our long-term strategy and offers an appropriate listing for a company of our scale and heritage.”
Meanwhile, Breedon said the acquisition of a majority stake in Minster Group – which includes civil engineers Minster Surfacing and Alliance Recycling – would help it grow in the east of England, and expand its recycling capabilities while supporting Minster’s ambitions.
Minster co-founder Bruce Spencer-Knott will stay on as its managing director and the business will become a distinct brand within Breedon.
He said: “After 24 years of growing Minster Group into one of the country’s leading independent contractors, it’s time to take things to the next level, securing its future as part of Breedon Group.
“I’m very excited about this acquisition, which will bring immediate benefits for the business and for our clients and road users.
“The immediate investment will allow us to add to our fleet of machinery to keep up with the demands of our clients.
“It also gives us long term security and sustainability, safeguarding jobs and protecting what the team and I have established while also helping us to scale up and grow.”
In the third development, the Peak Cluster project will see Breedon's Hope Cement Works – which employs more than 200 people and is a big contributor to carbon dioxide emissions – go greener.
Together with the Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant in Cheshire and four cement and lime plants in the Peak District and Staffordshire Moorlands – including sites owned by Tarmac, Lhoist and Aggregate Industries – the project hopes to remove more than three million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year by 2030, cutting total emissions from the industry by 40 per cent in the UK.
