Renew Holdings: CEO of Leeds firm ‘delighted’ to step into renewables market despite headwinds

Since that time, a number of high profile companies including BP and Shell have announced that they are divesting in renewables, including offshore wind.

Energy giant Orsted also announced last week that it would stop work on one of the UK’s biggest upcoming offshore wind projects, located off the Yorkshire coast.

Despite these announcements, Renew Holdings CEO, Paul Scott, said the firm was glad to have entered the renewables market.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, he said: “We read the headlines, but we are delighted to have entered the renewables sector. It’s been an ambition of ours for some time now.

“However, we were very specific. We work in onshore wind maintenance – this is not constructing turbine wind farms, it's looking after them and operating and maintaining them for end customers, and we’ve seen a gap in that market.

“Despite some of those headlines around the commitment to renewables – the big offshore schemes, that is not renew’s world, or Full Circles world.

“We’re delighted to have entered this new market and we see plenty of growth opportunities ahead both in the UK and in Europe, where this business has a position.”

Mr Scott added that Full Circle was ”integrating well” into the wider group.”

His comments came as Renew Holdings announced its results for the six months ending 31 March.

Group revenue increased 13 per cent to £569.3md during the period, while adjusted operating profit for the firm remained flat at £32m.

This came after the group issued a trading update in January due to delays and deferment within specific rail programmes.

Mr Scott added: “We reported some headwinds in rail in January, and of course we have faced into some economically difficult circumstances, but despite those we’re pleased to be putting what i describe as robust results into the market

“They are testament to the strategic progress were making in terms of our more diverse business model and the way we’re addressing our end markets “

In October 2024, the group announced that it has exited the specialist building market, becoming a “pure-play engineering business”.

The company announced at the time that it had sold off Walter Lilly & Co. Limited, its only specialist building business, for an unspecified amount.

Mr Scott said this had been part of the group's long term strategy.

He added: “The strategy for many years now has been focussed on converting those high-volume, low-margin, high-risk activities into more repeatable long-term relationships in engineering services.”

The group added that it had also now identified “significant” opportunities in its water operations.

The firm now works with 13 of the UK’s water companies.

Mr Scott’s latest comments come after Stephen Lilley, a founding partner of Schroders Greencoat – the investment manager for Greencoat UK Wind – told The Yorkshire Post in April that the outlook for wind energy in the UK remains “very positive”, despite cuts to renewable energy from major firms and shifts in attitudes abroad seen with the Trump administration’s shift away from green energy.