AUG.L Regulatory News (AUG)

22 Jan 2010 07:00



22nd January 2010

Augean plc ("Augean" or "the Group")

Pre-close trading update

Augean, one of the UK's leading hazardous waste businesses today updates the market prior to going into its close period ahead of its results for the full year of trading in 2009.

As a consequence of the challenging economic conditions, the board reported in September that trading would continue to be extremely difficult in the short term. These conditions extended into the final quarter and as a consequence, the profits for the year ending 31st December 2009 are likely to be significantly below the Board's previous expectations.

Moving to the current year, within the treatment division the Cannock process development issues have been finally resolved and a new business model implemented at the facility. We anticipate not carrying any further cost impacts through into the New Year. The key asset development projects have now been completed with a challenging commissioning timetable for the Indirect Thermal Desorption (ITD) facility. The commissioning is now complete and the operation has moved to 24 hour production. We therefore enter 2010 with the facility fully online and our sales teams working hard to further develop the client base. Good progress has been made on the gasification project on which we expect to be able to update at the March results announcement. The landfill division continues to suffer from the difficult market conditions and was further affected by the adverse weather in December 2009. Land remediation and construction is showing little sign of recovery in the short term which is demonstrated by a full year hazardous landfill volume of 196,000 tonnes (2008: 324,000 tonnes).

We have continued our policy of public engagement on the low level waste application. Ongoing communications actions include a planned site visit and presentation to the Planning Committee and continued engagement with the local communities.  The timing of any decision is at this stage uncertain with a General Election due, although your Board is doing all it can to ensure a positive outcome for shareholders.  It is the Board's expectation that a further update will be provided in March 2010.

The Group has continued to engage with HMRC in connection with the refund of Landfill Tax. These discussions are now well advanced and we expect to be able to provide a positive update at the time of the results announcement in March.

The outlook for the New Year remains challenging and the severe weather conditions experienced in the first two weeks of the year have impacted on our operations. We enter the New Year with an excellent service offering to our clients as the markets recover from the downturn and anticipate improvement in trading as the economy strengthens. With the successful placing and refinancing last year Augean has a strong balance sheet and is well placed to capitalise on opportunities in the market. The Group will give a further update regarding its prospects when it announces its results in March 2010.

Ends

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