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| LSE: BREE | |
| Industry | Construction & Materials |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Breedon On The Hill, Leicestershire |
Number of locations | 300 |
Area served | United Kingdom & Republic ofIreland |
Key people |
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| Products | Aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, contract surfacing & highway maintenance, cement, bitumen, bricks, tiles, concrete & clay products |
Production output | 19.4 million tonnes of aggregates sold, 2.8 million tonnes of asphalt sold and 3.2 million cubic metres of concrete sold. (2018) |
| Brands | Whitemountain Lagan Breedon Golden Amber Gravel Breedon Fyfestone 1stMix Breedon Cement Welsh Slate |
| Revenue |  £1,576.3 million (2024)[1] |
| £173.7 million (2024)[1] | |
 £96.3 million (2024)[1] | |
Number of employees | 4,450 (2025)[2] |
| Divisions |
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| Website | www |
Breedon Group plc (formerlyEnnstone plc) is a Britishconstruction materials company which has its headquarters atBreedon on the Hill,Leicestershire, England. It is listed on theLondon Stock Exchange and is a constituent of theFTSE 250 Index.
Breedon was traditionally centered around the quarrying of stone atBreedon on the Hill since the late 1800s. During 2000, Breedon was purchased by the Midlands-based aggregates firm Ennstone. In 2009, Ennstone enteredadministration and was acquired by the investment company Marwyn Materials, after which the firm was reorganised into Breedon Aggregates. Throughout the early 2010s, Breedon completed numerous acquisitions, both of whole companies and assets of larger competitors, such asAggregate Industries andMarshalls plc. In 2016, the firm was cleared by theCompetition and Markets Authority (CMA) to complete its purchase ofHope Construction Materials. Two years later, CMA also cleared a complex transaction between Breedon and rival firmTarmac under which numerous plants, quarries, and cash were exchanged. During 2020, Breedon was again cleared to take over 49 ready-mix plants, 28 aggregate quarries, 14 asphalt plants and numerous other operations under a £178 million deal withCemex.
In May 2023, Breedon waslisted for the first time on the main market of theLondon Stock Exchange. It has maintained its acquisitive strategy, which has included an expansion of its presence in theNorth American market via the purchase of BMC Enterprises. The firm's current chairman isAmit Bhatia, son-in-law ofLakshmi Mittal, the billionaire steel magnate who became a Breedon shareholder following the acquisition ofHope Construction Materials.[3]
Breedon has long been headquartered in the village and parish ofBreedon on the Hill, where stone has been quarried since the late 1800s. During 2000, Breedon, along with its Breedon Hill and Cloud Hill quarries, was acquired by Ennstone, a Midlands-based aggregates group.[4] The quarry at Breedon produces bothlimestone andgravel.[5]
During March 2009, amid the negative economic consequences of the2007–2008 financial crisis, Ennstone went intoadministration and started selling off its divisions.[6] In 2010, Ennstone was acquired by building materials industry veterans Peter Tom, chairman of theLeicester Tigers rugby club, and Simon Vivian, through their investment company, Marwyn Materials.[7][8] Their strategy for the combined business, which they named Breedon Aggregates, was to grow the company via the acquisition of small, often family-owned operations, in an industry generally regarded as having highbarriers to entry.[9][10]
Throughout the early 2010s, Breedon undertook numerous acquisitions. During July 2011, it purchased the collapsed firm C&G Concrete Ltd under a £10.15 million that rescued 130 jobs.[11] In January 2012, the firm also bought another concrete company, Nottingham Readymix.[12] During April 2013, Breedon acquired assets in Scotland valued at £34 million fromAggregate Industries as well as £19 million of assets fromMarshalls plc.[13][14] That same month, Peter Tom, the firm's chief executive, publicly stated his ambition to expand via more acquisitions and that the aggregates market had ‘bottomed-out’.[15] Breedon's turnover and profit figures both climbed considerable during the first half of 2013.[16]
In February 2016, the British Government'sCompetition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it would investigate the proposed acquisition ofHope Construction Materials by Breedon, citing a possible lessening of competition in the building materials industry.[17] The subsequent investigation held that the acquisition would not unduly reduce competition for the production and supply of aggregates, but that there should be further investigation into the supply of ready-mixed concrete. In response to the CMA, Breedon offered to sell 14 concrete plants from a list of 27 sites that the CMA believed would have reduced competition.[18] The CMA accepted Breedon's list of divestments and permitted the acquisition. Plants divested included sites at Cloddach,Moray andInverness. The £336m cash-and-shares acquisition of Hope closed in August 2016.[3][19]
During November 2016, Breedon acquired the County Durham-based firm Sherburn Minerals Group for a total consideration of up to £15.7 million.[20][21] In May 2017, it purchased Pro Mini Mix, a specialist concrete ‘mini mix’ supplier based in Oldbury.[22] Three months later, Breedon acquired Humberside Aggregates, an independent sand & gravel quarry and aggregates merchanting business based at North Cave near Hull in East Yorkshire, for a total consideration of £9.0 million.[23][24]
In December 2017, Breedon announced its planned acquisition fromTarmac of four quarries and an asphalt plant in exchange for £16.5 million, to be satisfied by the transfer to Tarmac of 27 of its readymix plants and payment of £4.9 million in cash.[25][26] However, in April 2018, CMA announced that Tarmac had been requested to address "competition concerns" regarding the deal;[27] two months later, clearance was granted.[28]
During February 2018, Breedon was reportedly holding talks with the aim of acquiring a majority stake in the Lagan Group, a construction business that performed quarrying, cement, asphalt and contracting;[29] in April 2018, it was confirmed that Lagan Group had been sold to Breedon for £455 million.[30] During June 2018, the company acquired Blinkbonny Quarry in the Scottish Borders, adding nearly three million tonnes of hard rock to its reserves.[31]
In October 2019, it was announced that the company had purchased Roadway Surfacing & Civil Engineering for up to £13.5 million, establishing it as a fully integrated business in North Wales.[32]
In January 2020, Breedon agreed a £178 million deal withCemex to take over 49 ready-mix plants, 28 aggregate quarries, four depots, one cement terminal, 14 asphalt plants and four concrete products operations.[33] This deal was temporarily suspended due to CMA ordering that a regulatory investigation be conducted.[34] Once cleared, the transaction was completed in September 2020.[35]
During May 2023, due to the company increasing valuation, it was transferred from theAlternative Investment Market to the main market of theLondon Stock Exchange.[36][37] In March 2024, Breedon acquired the US-based firm BMC Enterprises in exchange for £238.1 million.[38][39]
Breedon Group produces cement,construction aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, bitumen and other construction materials.[40]
The group is reported to hold a total of approximately 900 million tonnes of natural mineral reserves and resources.[41]
Breedon Group owns a 37.5% stake in BEAR Scotland, which maintains roads on behalf ofTransport Scotland, and a majority stake in Alba Traffic Management, anInverness-based firm that provides traffic management services for highway works, events and utilities. Through Mobile Concrete Solutions (MCS), Breedon also operates an on-site concrete batching service, run as a joint venture with construction services company TSL.[42]
Breedon produces a variety of grades of bulk and packed cement, in addition to crushed rock, sand, gravel, agricultural lime and a range of specialist ready-mixed concretes and asphalts. One of its best-known products is Golden Amber Gravel, used for pathways and driveways; it is reportedly the only gravel with aRoyal Warrant. Golden Amber is used atChatsworth House, The National War Memorial Arboretum and theSandringham Estate.[9]
Other products includespeedway shale, which is a mix of crushedlimestone andclay laid down to form the competitive surface at motorcycle speedway tracks. Breedon shale is used in international speedway tracks such asCardiff,Gothenburg andCopenhagen. Breedon developed its shale product alongside former speedway World ChampionOle Olsen and his son Torben.[9]
