Green legislation underpins growth at Midlothian waste recycling firm NWH

● Group ‘careful to spread the risk’ by reducing reliance on construction sector

Midlothian-head quartered waste recycler NWH Group said its business was benefiting from green legislation as it reported a jump in annual sales and profit.

In its last financial year, the firm grew turnover by 25 per cent to £40.2 million with profit before tax climbing 11 per cent, year-on-year. NWH, which serves the whole of Scotland and the Newcastle area from nine sites, attributed the growth to “several key factors” including the rollout of a five-year growth strategy.

To date, key stages of implementation have seen an internal re organisation of the team which now features a dedicated operations board to oversee the deliver y of the core business on a day-to-day basis, while still eyeing “future opportunities”.

The firm said grow th was also being legislatively driven on the back of “ambitious” waste recycling policies set out by Zero Waste Scotland, including limits on waste to landfill and minimum recycling targets. This has led to the group’s trade waste business growing by more than a third.

NWH said it had also been “careful to spread the risk” by reducing its reliance on the construction sector, while expanding its services across a number of sectors such as retail, hospitality and leisure, industrial, manufacturing and local government.

Organic growth has continued to “gain momentum”, the firm added, and this has been further strengthened by the business securing a number of key contracts, including at the St James Quarter in Edinburgh.

Chief executive Mark Williams said :“People are our greatest asset and we continue to rely on high calibre employees to deliver our strategy.

“Having made a number of key executive hires, including a compliance and risk director, as well as expanding our apprentice programme, we are grateful for the contribution everyone has made.

“We are always aiming higher, and another core strand in our growth strategy is acquisitions. We will be continuing to identify opportunities with businesses that are aligned to us, with a strong cultural fit.

“As we move for ward, the business will benefit from our recent reinvestments.

“We have also committed further investment during the 12 months ahead including upgrades to systems and customer management technology.”

NWH, which employs more than 300 staff, recently said it was pumping £2m into a new site in Newcastle as it launches its trade waste service for the north-east of England.