SigmaRoc strengthens focus on west and south west UK

Buy-and-build construction materials group SigmaRoc updated the market on two key developments in the continued roll-out of its growth strategy on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm said that, following the passing of all resolutions at its general meeting on 27 December, it was now focussed on developing its footprint in the west and south west of the UK.

It also announced that it had appointed David McClelland to its executive committee as managing director for its third platform, located in the west and south west of the UK.

McClelland was most recently a member of Tarmac's UK executive committee, overseeing more than £700m in turnover, 900 employees and 83 quarries, asphalt and concrete plants for Tarmac's UK central and western region, where he was responsible for a near three-fold increase in profitability.

As an executive committee member at SigmaRoc, McClelland would take responsibility for building the group's third aggregates and quarrying focussed platform.

The first asset in the platform that McClelland would oversee would be the Foelfach Quarry - a high polished stone value quarry, located in Carmarthenshire, South Wales.

Sources of high PSV aggregates were said to be “scarce” in the UK, and were of key importance for road surfacing because of their skid resistance qualities.

Only an estimated 8% of UK quarries produced high PSV materials, SigmaRoc explained.

Foelfach was acquired by SigmaRoc for a non-material consideration during 2018, at which time its resource was estimated to be 1.8 million tonnes of high PSV minerals.

Post-acquisition, Sandybed Geological Services had worked with the firm’s technical team to prove up a materially larger resource of four million tonnes of high PSV materials.

Under McClelland's leadership, the group said it would look to achieve a four-fold increase in the quarry's existing output to 80,000 tonnes per year, and it would serve as a launchpad for the expansion into the high PSV and asphalt markets.

“I am extremely proud that SigmaRoc is able to attract talent of the highest caliber,” said SigmaRoc chief executive officer Max Vermorken.

“David McClelland brings decades of technical, managerial and strategic experience in our sector.

“With Foelfach as a starting point, David will help build our third Platform in a region he knows well.”