Recycling and waste management firm has said that lower prices for materials are having an impact on its solid waste business.
In its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 April 2012 published ahead of its AGM, Shanks reported that its organics, UK municipal and hazardous waste businesses still continue to perform well.
The company reported that in the sold waste business, underlying market conditions have remained challenging, particularly in the Netherlands with volumes and prices continuing on a downward trend. It said that recyclate prices have fallen during the period.
Shanks Group chief executive Peter Dilnot said: “While market conditions continue to be challenging, particularly in our solid waste businesses, our organics, UK municipal and hazardous waste businesses are performing well.
“We remain focused on taking the necessary actions to offset these headwinds through delivering returns from our strategic investment programme and driving operational improvements across the group.
“We have reorganised the business to align with our core activities and deliver synergies. In parallel, we are accelerating actions on improving productivity and minimising back office costs.
“Assuming market conditions do not deteriorate further, we expect to deliver a robust performance this year and strong growth once market conditions improve.
“Before currency translation, we anticipate underlying trading for 2012/13 to be broadly in line with our expectations with the benefits of the cost saving programmes significantly weighted to the second half.”
