Biffa’s acquisition of Specialist Waste Recycling (SWRNewstar), announced today (12 March), has raised questions about the future of the firm’s national network of haulage subcontractors.

SWRNewstar, which was formed in 2017 through a merger of the waste brokerage businesses Specialist Waste Recycling and New Star Environmental, has been acquired by Biffa for around £25.8m.

This is the latest move in the waste management company's aggressive acquisition strategy, which saw the firm buy seven waste companies last year following its listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2016.

In its latest results Biffa stated that its acquisition strategy is “in all cases” to rebrand acquisitions, fully integrate them into Biffa’s operational networks and make cost savings by “the removal of duplicate routes and locations” and by “bringing sub-contracted services in-house”.

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SWRNewstar operates a national waste management service across 6,000 sites, using a network of subcontractors to deliver its services. Biffa is one of its subcontractors, servicing around 11% of SWRNewstar’s customers.

Announcing the acquisition Biffa said: “The acquisition provides Biffa with the opportunity to increase the proportion of work serviced by its collection and processing network, as well as expanding routes to market.”

Michael Topham, CEO at Biffa, added: “Bringing together SWRNewstar with Biffa's leading industrial and commercial business will strengthen our offering while enabling us to profitably leverage our national network.

"We welcome the staff and customers of SWRNewstar to Biffa."

In the year to 31 December 2018 SWRNewstar generated a turnover of £40.1m with an underlying operating profit of £3.4m.

In a statement SWRNewstar said of the acquisition: "The key message for SWRnewstar customers is that there will be no change to service or the team."

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