Breedon Regulatory News (BREE)

 News release

3 September 2014

BREEDON AGGREGATES LIMITED

("Breedon Aggregates" or the "Group")

Breedon expands into mid-Wales

through joint venture with H V Bowen & Sons

Breedon Aggregates, the UK's largest independent aggregates business, has acquired a 50 per cent interest in H V Bowen & Sons (Holdings) Limited, the owner and operator of Tan-y-Foel quarry near Welshpool. The investment has been funded in cash from the Group's own resources.

The quarry will provide Breedon with an interest in approximately 3.4 million tonnes of strategically important high 'polished stone value' (PSV) aggregates. Sources of high (+68) PSV aggregates are very scarce and Tan-y-Foel has some of the highest quality reserves in the country. High PSV stone has a high skid resistance and is therefore in great demand for surfacing roads with heavy traffic flows. H V Bowen also operates a ready-mixed concrete plant.

The business will continue to trade as H V Bowen and will be jointly managed by Breedon Aggregates England Limited and the Bowen family, who have owned and operated the quarry for more than 70 years.

Breedon already owns a sand and gravel quarry near Mold in North Wales and the joint venture with H V Bowen expands the company's operations into mid-Wales for the first time.

Commenting on the investment Tim Hall, chief executive of Breedon Aggregates England, said: "We're pleased to have secured access to some of the highest quality PSV stone in the country, which will provide a ready supply of this key aggregate to our asphalt plants. It will also enable us to extend our reach into an important new market for aggregates and readymix."

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Notes to editors

Breedon Aggregates (www.breedonaggregates.com)

Breedon Aggregates is the UK's largest independent aggregates business. Following the investment in H V Bowen, the group has 43 active quarries, 22 asphalt plants and 54 ready-mixed concrete and mortar plants stretching from the Hebrides in northern Scotland to Lydney in Gloucestershire. The group employs more than 1,100 people and has strong asset backing, with over 400 million tonnes of mineral reserves and resources in its portfolio. Breedon's strategy is to continue growing via consolidation of the heavyside building materials sector.

H V Bowen & Sons (www.hvbowen.co.uk)

H.V.Bowen & Sonswas formed in 1907 by Harry Vaughn Bowen and the company first began operating Tan-y-Foel Quarry in the 1930s. One hundred years on, the company is still managed by the Bowen family. The company employs more than 30 people in the local area. 

For further information:

Breedon Aggregates Limited Cenkos Securities (NOMAD/joint broker)

Simon Vivian, Group Chief Executive Max Hartley, 020 7397 8900

Rob Wood, Group Finance Director

01332 694444 Peel Hunt (joint broker)

Justin Jones / Mike Bell, 020 7418 8900

Stephen Jacobs, Head of Communications  

07831 764592