Brambles in £387m sale
Melbourne-based Brambles has defied the business community’s expectations by disposing of the German division of its waste management company for £387m.
The Anglo-Australian group, the world’s leading pallet supplier, had been expected to offload its British waste operations. But yesterday chief executive David Turner said that Brambles is selling Cleanaway Germany to SULO, a German-based waste management group.
He also announced the acquisition of AUSDOC, the Melbourne-based information management business, from ABN Amro for £112m.
The announcement ends months of speculation that Brambles was poised to offload its poorly performing Cleanaway UK operation, or even its entire Cleanaway business in Europe, as it focuses on its top-earning CHEP division, which supplies pallets and containers around the world.
Turner said: “Cleanaway Germany has been well managed and this is reflected in the attractive price that has been agreed. We will use the proceeds to invest in the further growth of our other businesses while reducing debt.”
Along with its pallet operations, Brambles runs businesses from information management and special services for the steel industry, to transport of raw materials and the provision of earthmoving equipment.
Brambles said that it would make a £50m profit on the sale of the German division, which employs more than 2,600 people and is the third largest waste management operator in Germany. It had sales of £360m in the year to 30 June and operating profits of £36m. Brambles’s pre-tax profit was £347m, a 55 per cent increase from the year before. Sales were at £3.3bn.
