Administrators have saved 420 staff jobs at a Lincolnshire waste haulage firm by selling it to a subsidiary of utilities group Beauparc.
Mid-UK Recycling (Mid UK) went into administration on 12 June after “a difficult trading period” during which it suffered a major fire [last year] and was prosecuted for the illegal storage of waste, which directly contributed to a fire in 2015.
The company, which is based in Caythorpe and held a licence for a total of 98 lorries across four operating centres in the region, was founded in 1997 and grew into a £37m turnover business.
It recycles a combination of agricultural, commercial and industrial waste, green waste, paper and cardboard, plasterboard and woodwaste. Mid UK also provides renewable fuels, skip hire and waste collections.
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Director Chris Mountain said: “Since the fire in September 2018 it has been a challenging period for employees, customers and our supply chain.
“However this sale provides the opportunity for Beauparc to take the business forward and onto the next phase of its growth and development.”
Beauparc has grown from its beginnings in Ireland in 1990 into a major utilities, commercial and domestic waste management company with facilities across the Ireland, the UK and internationally.
The sale is to its subsidiary New Earth Solutions (West).
Brian McCabe, Beauparc Group MD, said: “The acquisition of the business of Mid UK further expands and consolidates Beauparc’s footprint in the UK and will add significant synergies and be complementary to our recent acquisitions in Leeds late 2018.”
Mid UK’s prosecution last year, brought by the county council and the Environment Agency, found that the company operated illegal waste storage at its recycling facility in Barkston Heath, Ancaster, which led to a serious fire in 2015 and resulted in road closures for several days and warnings to local residents to keep windows and doors closed.
The company pleaded guilty to environmental and planning breaches and was fined £100,000. It was ordered to pay the council and the EA’s costs of £50,000, and also ordered to pay the fire and rescue service’s costs of £230,000.
Mike Denny, restructuring director for PwC, said: “The past nine months was a difficult trading period for the business and a combination of the impact of a major fire at the Barkston site, associated losses and tightening credit led to a shortage of working capital.”
