How SigmaRoc is on a mission to become the leading European quarried materials group.
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, the business has closed a raise of £30 million to complete 14 deals. By the end of the year Max anticipates a further 10 acquisitions.
Another key to SigmaRoc’s success is its decentralised approach. Empowering its quarry managers to become best-in-class operators falls within the business’ “improve” pillar of its business model, enabling cost control.
“We give freedom to our quarry managers to run each quarry as their own business. We’ve found that by doing this it has acted as a great motivator for success and we’ve seen our teams display good cost-control,” said Max.
Thanks to its decentralisation, SigmaRoc holds a unique position in the industry, with a strong local understanding, enabling the business to position itself appropriately.
Ultimately, Max’s vision was to create a business where its employees are happy.
“Everybody needs a job to survive, 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 net-zero 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.
Additionally, SigmaRoc produces 40 million concrete blocks per year, 50% of which are cement free, with the plans to grow this further.
Innovating in partnership with ArcelorMittal, the companies have entered into a strategic joint venture agreement to create a new company focussed on the production of green quick lime.
Both SigmaRoc and ArcelorMittal have taken a 47.5% ownership stake in the joint venture, which was announced in September 2022.
In the first phase of roll out, the new company will be responsible for the construction of three new lime kilns in France, with final permitting approval expected toward the end of 2023. Commissioning is anticipated to commence in 2025.
Max and the business have a clear vision for its path to net-zero, including all kilns to be carbon neutral by 2038.
“This represents another important milestone in establishing ourselves as a leading European specialist quarried 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.
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.