Safety first as Augean cleans up in North Sea

​The Wetherby-based firm said the North Sea business led the way in safety standards, recording eight years without a lost time incident in offshore operations.

​Augean’s chief executive Dr Stewart Davies said: “We’ve been successful in winning more business in the North Sea, operating with companies such as Shell.

“We’ve expanded operations. There was a drilling waste focus but now we’re doing boat cleaning and dealing with hazardous waste that arrives from operations in the North Sea.”

He was speaking yesterday as Augean reported a 22 per cent increase in underlying pre-tax profits to £3.2m in the 12 months to December 31. Revenue rose 11 per cent to £47m.

On Monday, Augean sold businesses and sites in its former Waste Network division for £1.2m, allowing it to focus on key operations as the UK economy recovers.

Augean’s finance director Richard Allen said: “The increasing industrial output will inevitably help us as higher volumes of hazardous waste are produced.”

The group is established in a number of key waste markets, including hazardous waste treatment and disposal, air pollution control residues management, low level radioactive waste disposal and North Sea oil and gas.

The firm said it is stronger now than at any point in the past five years and reflecting this confidence, it is proposing a 40 per cent increase in the dividend to 0.35p a share.