AUG.L Share News (AUG)

Specialist waste management firm Augean on Monday said the sale of the rest of its Waste Network division had been completed. The group, which first announced the closure and proposed sale of the division in September 2013, has been selling it in parts and stopped operating at the start of the year, at which point certain assets formed a new business, Augean Integrated Services (AIS). The remaining businesses of the Waste Network division continued to trade during the first quarter of 2014 whilst the sale process continued. Transactions involving two separate purchasers have now been completed for the sale of those businesses and associated assets. The first of these related to the assets based at Hinckley, which have been sold to Greenway Environmental for cash proceeds of £0.4m. A second transaction, with Cleansing Service Group, was for the business based at Rochdale and the site at Worcester, which generated cash proceeds of £0.8m and takes the total value received from the Waste Network sales to £1.2m before project costs of £0.1m. The sales will result in exceptional impairment charges of £4.0m which will be included in the group's results for 2013. Dr Stewart Davies, Chief Executive Officer said: "The sale and closure of the former Waste Network division represents a significant change in the structure and focus of the Augean Group. "The disposal is consistent with our ambition to grow the group's activities in waste markets offering enhanced margins and more secure revenue streams."NR