Trucost eyes big buyer to help it bridge gap between market players

Trucost is planning a strategic sale to a firm “with the scale and the brand” to enable it to connect with companies, governments and banks.

The environmental data provider put itself up for sale in April, after “attracting the interest of various organisations over the past couple of years”, according to CEO Richard Mattison.

Mattison told RI that Trucost has experienced “exceptional levels of growth” over the past 18 months. According to its latest annual report, its revenue grew by 8.5% in the year ending March 2015, hitting £2.8m (€3.6m), but its losses widened to £1.2m from £844,319 the previous financial year. Mattison said the most recent growth spurt is not yet reflected in these formal audited accounts.“Given this growth and the interest from the market, we decided it was better to run a formal sale process,” he explained. He was unable to discuss how many bidders were involved in the process, which is governed by UK takeover rules, but RI understands from insiders that a decision is expected in the coming weeks.

“There is a big disconnect between companies and how they’re reporting, capital markets and how they’re investing, and governments and their targets,” said Mattison. “We need a connection between them, and that’s our intent through this sale – to make sure that, if and when we sell the business, we do so to a business that has the scale and the brand to make interventions that are truly game-changing.”

Trucost provides carbon-footprinting services to investors and companies, as well as assessing natural capital dependency for firms and governments.