INVEST, IMPROVE, INTEGRATE AND INNOVATE

How SigmaRoc is on a mission to become the leading European quarried materials group.

Sigmaroc Project

DIRECTED BY: GLEN NEWTON ARTICLE

WRITTEN BY: LAURA WATLING

Co-founded by five industry experts (Max Vermorken, Alphons Vermorken, Garth Palmer, David Barrett, and Charles Trigg), SigmaRoc is the quarried materials group prepared to disrupt the sector.

“When I approached my co-founders with the business plan for SigmaRoc, it was clear that to grow a business like this we had to approach growth in a different way. SigmaRoc is based on a foundation of invest, improve, integrate and innovate,” explained CEO, Max Vermoken, when he spoke with Business Enquirer.

Established in 2016, the business has rapidly grown from the five co-founders who make up the central group (now seven), to 2050 employees across 80 sites in 12 countries.

Geographically, SigmaRoc’s focus is regions surrounding the North Sea, with its largest footprint being in the UK, Benelux, Finland, Sweden and Poland.

“The materials quarried at our platforms directly support the offshore energy industry, and so it makes logistical sense to be situated as close to that market as possible,” said Max.

SigmaRoc’s growth has been successful thanks to making wise acquisitions in the market, largely of family quarry businesses. To date, it has reviewed 130 businesses for acquisition, choosing to pursue only 20.

“Our strict process has proven successful as we’ve achieved 40% more returns out of these businesses post-acquisition,” shared Max.

Recently,thebusinesshasclosedaraise of£30milliontocomplete14deals.Bythe endoftheyearMaxanticipatesafurther 10acquisitions

AnotherkeytoSigmaRoc’ssuccessisits decentralisedapproach.Empowering itsquarrymanagerstobecomebest-inclassoperatorsfallswithinthebusiness’ “improve”pillarofitsbusinessmodel, enablingcostcontrol.

“Wegivefreedomtoourquarrymanagers toruneachquarryastheirownbusiness. We’vefoundthatbydoingthisithasacted asagreatmotivatorforsuccessandwe’ve seenourteamsdisplaygoodcost-control,” saidMax.

Thankstoitsdecentralisation,SigmaRoc holdsauniquepositionintheindustry, withastronglocalunderstanding, enablingthebusinesstopositionitself appropriately.

Ultimately,Max’svisionwastocreatea businesswhereitsemployeesarehappy.

“Everybodyneedsajobtosurvive,but they can and should be happy whilst doing it,” he said “I think it's vital for the business to be open to our employees and stakeholders, allow our people to use their skills, and for the central team to spend as much time on the ground as possible”.

Considering “innovate”, SigmaRoc confronts industry challenges head on, allowing it to have a competitive edge.

With a mission to become a carbon netzero business by 2040, SigmaRoc is taking steps now to meet these goals, remaining a step ahead of its competitors.

One method towards achieving this is implementing a carbon capture system into its Nordic operations - an industry first in Europe.

The modular system, which captures carbon created by the quarrying production process, is low in energy usage and, importantly, doesn’t create hazardous waste. As the system is modular, there is the opportunity for SigmaRoc to roll this out across its platforms.

TazRock

TazRock have been awarded a long term contract with CCP, (who are owned by sigmaRoc) to install and operate a wash-plant at one of their busiest quarries. We have also been contracted to produce aggregate from blasted rock at this site.

The wash-plant will allow approx. 1.2 million tonnes of ‘dirty’ quarry spoil to be washed and sold as sand and quality aggregate.

Tazrock also work within many other quarries for companies acquired by SigmaRoc

About us.

Founded in 2016 primarily as a crushing and material processing contractor specialising in certified quality single size aggregate including premium 68 PSV Gritstone and asphalt plainings for recycling, Tazrock has now grown into a company that offers Contract Crushing, hire of associated plant, machinery maintenance and repair, along with fabrication and welding carried out in our fully equipped workshop. We provide Heavy Haulage with our newly acquired Scania unit and Faymonville trailer, Electrical repairs and the supply and fitting of conveyor belting can also be provided by our team of mobile engineers available 24 hours a day in fully equipped vans.

Tazrock Ltd are looking forward to the future and developing a close working relationship with SigmaRoc www.tazrock.co.uk

Established in 2016, Tazrock is a Specialist Crushing and Screening company supplying the Quarrying, Construction and Recycling Industry.

We supply many different services such as:

Machine Hire and Sale

Crushing

Screening

Plant Maintenance

Supply of quarried and recycled aggregates

Hardcore tipping site

GET IN TOUCH

01443 478747 michael@tazrock.co.uk - Director info@tazrock.co.uk - General Enquiries accounts@tazrock.co.uk - Accounts Enquiries

ADDRESS

Unit 3, Hirwaun Industrial Estate, Hirwaun, Aberdare, CF44 9UP

Additionally,SigmaRocproduces40 millionconcreteblocksperyear,50%of whicharecement free,withtheplansto growthisfurther.

Innovatinginpartnershipwith ArcelorMittal,thecompanieshaveentered intoastrategicjointventureagreement tocreateanewcompanyfocussedonthe productionofgreenquicklime

BothSigmaRocandArcelorMittalhave takena47.5%ownershipstakeinthe jointventure,whichwasannouncedin September2022.

Inthefirstphaseofrollout, thenew companywillberesponsiblefor theconstructionofthreenewlime kilnsinFrance,withfinalpermitting approvalexpectedtowardtheendof 2023.Commissioningisanticipatedto commencein2025

Maxandthebusinesshaveaclearvision foritspathtonet-zero,includingallkilns tobecarbonneutralby2038.

“Thisrepresentsanotherimportant milestoneinestablishingourselvesas aleadingEuropeanspecialistquarried materials group in addition to helping us further on the road to net zero by 2040. The joint venture is reflective of this ambition and represents one of a number of important initiatives, both organic and inorganic, that we are pursuing,” said Max on the announcement. www.sigmaroc.com

Across its platforms, SigmaRoc produces 1.3 billion tonnes of minerals per year, the largest proportion of which is high-grade limestone.

“Our fixed costs are manageable and barriers to entry are high,” Max explained, “this gives us pricing power which meets our “invest” pillar. We look to sell everything we quarry which assists us in margin expansion, this fulfils the “integrate” element of our business model” he continued.

Whilst Max expressed how happy he and the central team are for the success of SigmaRoc, which is turning over £540 million a year, he highlighted that there is more that can be achieved in the UK. There is also opportunity to create a larger footprint in the likes of France and Germany.