February 23, 2023: European metals recycling and speciality chemicals group Campine posted a record performance for 2022 on March 13 including increased sales of more than €317 million ($335 million) — less than a year after acquiring two lead battery recycling plants from French lead recycler Recyclex.
The Belgium-based group reported full-year Ebitda (earnings before interest tax debt and amortization) of €26.6 million and saying it had become Europe’s second largest lead-acid battery reprocessing company.
Ebitda was up 18% compared to €22.6 million achieved a year earlier. This comprised €17.2 million from its Belgian operations and €1.8 million from the French ones together with a one-time positive non-cash effect of €7.6 million.
Campine reported total consolidated revenue of €317.4 million, including six months of revenue of the acquired French plants, which was an increase of more than 40% compared to 2021.
Campine said the higher revenue was mainly related to increased material/metal prices as the volumes remained almost equal.
The battery breaker activities in France are hosted in a new recycled batteries business unit and are part of Campine’s circular metals division.
Campine’s C2P recycling company has become its recycled polymers unit.
In the circular metals division demand remained strong throughout 2022, said division director David Wijmans.
“With the expansion, we now recycle a volume of 180,000 tonnes of used batteries, which is the equivalent of 10 million car batteries per year.”
Wijmans said the group also expanded its feedstock and is now collecting batteries from a broader region.
CEO Wim De Vos said: “There is a clear consolidation in Europe with some temporary and definite lead metal production plant closures, which currently creates a relative shortage of lead metal in Europe. Our expansion in France was perfectly timed.”
De Vos said Campine’s diversification into plastics recycling was a logical next step and had given the group “a leap forward both in plastics as in battery recycling”.
Batteries International reported on March 9 that Ecobat’s suspension of lead production at its Paderno and Marcianise plants in Italy was continuing into its sixth month, after the company suspended production at the secondary lead smelting plants from October 1 in the wake of “extreme energy prices and other excessively burdensome costs” in the country.