Waste Management

The company’s core strengths are seven years of material-level expertise, an established Baltic sourcing base that can supply the planned facility without parallel procurement expansion, a diversified buyer pipeline, improving margins (8.1% to 17.8% over 2023–2025) and uninterrupted operating profitability within a capital-light structure with zero financial debt.

The constraints are equally clear: a thin equity base (EUR 142,345), key-person concentration in the sole shareholder-CEO, no operating history of a sorting facility — the projected 30–35% gross margins are industry-benchmarked rather than facility-proven — and a limited three-year financial track record. The principal execution risks are the commissioning timeline (Q2 2026), the Category B environmental permit (standard processing of 3–6 months), conversion of the letters of intent, whose mechanisms are tied to operational readiness by 1 July 2026, and commodity price exposure. All purchase commitments are quality-conditional, standard practice in the secondary raw materials market.

These risks are partially mitigated by the zero-debt starting position, the continued cash generation of the brokerage business and the structural nature of the margin improvement. The brokerage business alone provides baseline interest coverage of 1.4× (2025 profit before tax of EUR 127,411 against annual interest of EUR 90,563), so interest can be serviced even if the sorting ramp-up is delayed; comfortable debt service including principal repayment requires the sorting operation to perform broadly in line with projections.

On the numbers provided, SIA Ramotti shows a brokerage operation building commercial scale from EUR 656,329 (2023) to EUR 1,001,592 (2025), driven by an expanding Baltic sourcing network and a deliberate shift towards higher-value PCB-rich and copper-bearing fractions. The 2024 revenue dip (−20.9%) was a volume-for-quality trade — gross margin improved from 8.1% to 13.7% in the same year — followed by a sharp 2025 recovery (+93.0%). The 2026–2027 forecast introduces the transition: the brokerage channel continues at approximately EUR 948,000 (2026) and EUR 684,000 (2027) while in-house sorting enters the income statement with EUR 1,200,000 (2026F) and EUR 2,736,000 (2027F), bringing combined revenue to EUR 2,148,000 and EUR 3,420,000. Revenue growth by year: −20.9% (2024), +93.0% (2025), +114.5% (2026F), +59.2% (2027F).

Income statement, EUR (2023–2027)

Revenue growth over 2023–2025 follows the non-linear path of an early-stage brokerage building a supply base. The 2024 contraction to EUR 519,066 reflects supply stream variability and a deliberate shift towards higher-quality procurement, not structural demand deterioration; the rebound to EUR 1,001,592 in 2025 confirms this. The forecast assumes the brokerage channel continues at about its current run-rate, declining modestly as the highest-value fractions are redirected to own sorting, with the sorting line adding EUR 1.2–2.7m.

Gross margin improved steadily from 8.1% (2023) to 13.7% (2024) and 17.8% (2025) on procurement optimisation and a shift towards PCB-rich and copper-bearing fractions, where per-tonne spreads are widest. The forecast step-change to 28.0% and 32.0% comes from own-sorting revenue at 32–35% gross margin entering the blend. The improvement is structural — the elimination of third-party processing fees that hold brokerage margins at 14–18% — rather than the result of aggressive pricing assumptions on either channel.

Operating expenses rose from EUR 10,209 (1.6% of revenue) in 2023 to EUR 51,032 (5.1%) in 2025, including the dedicated engineer recruited in 2025 to prepare the sorting transition. The forecast steps up to EUR 168–252K (7.8–7.4% of revenue) for the costs of a licenced facility — rent, a sorting team of 4–6 operators, environmental compliance, insurance and equipment depreciation. The falling OPEX-to-revenue ratio from 2026 to 2027 shows operating leverage as largely fixed facility overhead spreads over a growing revenue base.

“Other expenses” in 2024 (EUR 43,435) and 2025 (EUR 33,462) are capital expenditure on preparatory equipment for the sorting facility, expensed in the management accounts rather than capitalised. This compressed reported net profit in both years: EUR 43,101 (2023), EUR 3,229 (2024) and EUR 93,949 (2025, a 9.4% net margin), while profit before tax — EUR 46,664 (2024) and EUR 127,411 (2025) — better reflects the brokerage model’s underlying profitability. The forecast projects net profit of EUR 343,238 (16.0%) in 2026F and EUR 807,900 (23.6%) in 2027F.

Interest expense steps up from zero to EUR 90,563 in 2026F, reflecting the proposed EUR 575,000 facility at 21.0% per annum over 9 months; combined EBIT covers it 5.8×. Interest then falls to EUR 34,500 in 2027F as partial principal repayment from 2026 operating cash flow reduces the outstanding balance, and coverage rises to 25.4×. This assumes partial repayment from operating cash flow rather than refinancing.

The 2025 results — revenue of EUR 1,001,592, gross margin of 17.8%, profit before tax of EUR 127,411 — confirm that the brokerage model works and that the company has reached a scale where the next stage is operationally grounded. The growth plan is not a pivot into unfamiliar territory but a vertical integration within the same value chain, supplier relationships and buyer channels: taking direct control of the sorting step now outsourced to third-party partners.

Under brokerage the company captures an intermediation spread of approximately 14–18% gross margin, while approximately EUR 350–500 per tonne in processing fees goes to partners. In-house, that fee is replaced by directly controllable operating costs of approximately EUR 200–280 per tonne, expanding per-tonne gross margin from approximately EUR 150–300 (brokerage) to EUR 520–820 (own sorting). The facility requires EUR 575,000 in equipment, quality control infrastructure, licensing and working capital, which exceeds accumulated cash reserves. The brokerage business keeps operating in parallel as a self-sustaining revenue base.

Core initiatives and ramp-up

The transition requires four capabilities the company does not yet have: a licenced facility in the Riga area (premises identified, lease contingent on financing), processing equipment (EUR 445,000 in sorting, separation and material handling machinery), a sorting workforce of 4–6 operators recruited on commissioning, and direct quality control (XRF analyser, weighbridge, scales, lot-tracking). The engineer is responsible for line design, equipment specification and operational preparation; the Category B environmental permit application is in preparation.

The facility is designed for an initial 300–400 tonnes of e-waste input a year, calibrated against the existing supply base. The highest-value material (PCBs, connector assemblies, copper windings) goes to the company’s own line, while lower-value fractions (ferrous scrap, aluminium, residual waste) continue through brokerage. Planned throughput: 30–50 tonnes in Q2 2026 (commissioning), 60–90 tonnes in Q3, 70–100 tonnes in Q4 and 300–400 tonnes for the full year 2027. Projected sorting revenue is EUR 1,200,000 in 2026 (partial year) and EUR 2,736,000 in 2027.

The demand side is documented by a pipeline of EUR 1,110,000–1,310,000 in annualised off-take potential across 8 named counterparties in 5 countries: 3 executed contracts (EUR 730,000–810,000) and 5 formalised letters of intent (EUR 380,000–500,000). Each engagement includes a defined material scope, quality-conditional purchase parameters and an identified capacity blocker that the facility addresses.

The contracted base alone, from NOVITERA, Metruna and Boliden, provides a structural demand floor for the facility’s output.

SIA Ramotti operates in one segment — waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) collection, brokerage and trading — but is exposed to two layers of it: the European e-waste management market as the context for sourcing, sorting and trading, and the precious metals recovery sub-segment (PCB-rich fractions containing gold, silver and palladium) as the highest-margin part of the output mix. Both benefit from EU-level tailwinds: the WEEE Directive revision, the Critical Raw Materials Act and growing e-waste volumes.

European e-waste management

Mordor Intelligence values the European e-waste management market at approximately EUR 27.9bn (2024), growing at a CAGR of 5.0% to approximately EUR 37.5bn by 2030. A narrower definition focused on electronics recycling and processing is valued at approximately EUR 7.9bn (2024) by Market Research Future, with a CAGR of approximately 13.4% through 2035. Metals account for approximately 47–52% of market revenue. Europe leads all regions in formal e-waste recycling (approximately 42.5% in 2024), but remains well below the WEEE Directive target of 65% — the EU-wide collection rate was 40.6% in 2022 (European Environment Agency).

The WEEE Directive (2012/19/EU) mandates 65% collection by weight; the European Commission published its evaluation on 2 July 2025 and is expected to present a revision by December 2026, with tighter EPR enforcement and mandatory treatment quality standards. The EU Critical Raw Materials Act (in force 23 May 2024, amended March 2026) sets a 25% domestic recycling target for strategic raw materials by 2030, directly implicating palladium, gold and copper, and China’s export restrictions on gallium, germanium, graphite and antimony (2023–2024) have reinforced demand for EU-compliant secondary suppliers. Global e-waste generation reached 62 million tonnes in 2022, with formal recovery capturing approximately EUR 25.7bn against a theoretical potential of EUR 83.4bn.

Precious metals recovery from PCBs

The global precious metals e-waste recovery market is valued at approximately EUR 6.2bn (2024, Data Bridge Market Research), growing to approximately EUR 9.7bn by 2032 at a CAGR of 5.8%. Gold accounts for more than 70% of revenue, and consumer electronics — the source category closest to Ramotti’s output stream — for 46.3% of market share. Mixed consumer electronics PCBs contain approximately 90–200 grams of gold, 150–200 kilogrammes of copper and approximately 400 grams of silver per tonne, with combined precious metal value of EUR 10,000–18,000 per tonne at 2025 spot prices. PCB fractions trade at a material discount to contained value (typically EUR 2,000–6,000 per tonne) reflecting refining costs; the collector’s commercial logic is to narrow this gap through better lot quality and accurate classification.

European e-waste brokers typically achieve gross margins of 8–18%: those focused on PCB-rich and copper-bearing fractions sit at the upper end (14–18%), those in ferrous and low-value non-ferrous scrap at 8–12%. Vertically integrated collector–sorter–traders achieve 25–40% on sorted output — a structural advantage of 10–20 percentage points from capturing the sorting spread. Ramotti’s Baltic WEEE stream, with a meaningful share of PCB-rich and non-ferrous material from institutional and commercial sources, positions it towards the upper portion of the brokerage range.

Latvia and the Baltics

Latvia is one of only three EU member states — alongside Bulgaria and Slovakia — to have met the 65% WEEE collection target in both 2022 and 2023 (Eurostat). This reflects functional formal collection infrastructure and better feedstock quality for compliant collectors, though it also intensifies competition for supply. Eurozone membership (since January 2014) removes currency conversion costs on exports to buyers in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, and Schengen membership eases cross-border logistics. Latvia works as a feeder market to Nordic and Northern European processing: Boliden (Sweden) and Aurubis (Germany) are the primary destinations for PCB-rich concentrate from Baltic collectors.

Competition is structured in three tiers: Tier 1 regional integrators (CRONIMET Nordic: EUR 144.5m turnover, 251,000+ tonnes processed in 2024; Metruna: Baltic-wide WEEE specialist); Tier 2 mid-size Latvian processors (TM Recycling, E-collect, ALL Recycling); and Tier 3 general scrap dealers (Euro Lom, ELECO, Jumets, Refonda). Ramotti sits at the entry point of Tier 2 — licensed for trading but not yet for processing — and competes on feedstock pricing, logistics access, regulatory compliance and output quality against buyer specifications. The critical challenge is the transition to a licenced integrated operator competing on equal footing with established Tier 2 processors.

Opportunities

• WEEE regulatory escalation. Higher mandatory collection rates and treatment standards will increase material entering the formal chain, expanding feedstock for licensed collectors; Latvia’s above-target performance positions its operators to benefit from volume growth rather than absorb compliance costs.
• CRMA demand for upstream aggregators. The 25% recycling target for 2030 and China’s export restrictions have raised the strategic value of EU-based WEEE collectors with PCB-rich output; Umicore, Boliden and Aurubis are expanding European feedstock sourcing.
• PCB price premium. A tonne of mixed consumer electronics PCBs holds an estimated EUR 10,000–18,000 in precious metals; operators delivering purer, consistently specified lots narrow the refinery’s risk discount and capture more of that value.
• Baltic logistics position. Latvia lies between major secondary refiners in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands and growing Central and Eastern European e-waste volumes, with the euro removing conversion costs on exports.

Challenges

• Commodity price volatility. Copper fell approximately 12% between May and September 2024 and palladium more than 40% between January 2023 and January 2025, directly affecting the value of inventory held between procurement and sale.
• Scale asymmetry. CRONIMET Nordic’s EUR 144.5m turnover is several orders of magnitude above Ramotti’s operations, affecting feedstock pricing and the depth of buyer relationships.
• Buyer concentration at the refining level. Umicore, Boliden and Aurubis hold most PCB-rich WEEE processing capacity in Northern and Western Europe; upstream aggregators are price-takers.
• Informal competition. Mixing WEEE with general scrap lets informal handlers pay suppliers more by avoiding licensing costs and EPR contributions — a persistent distortion across most EU member states.

The EUR 575,000 facility is supported by a consolidated package combining the existing fixed asset base — machinery, equipment and other fixed assets on the 2025 balance sheet, EUR 219,520 — with the newly acquired loan-financed sorting, separation and quality control equipment (EUR 530,000 of the facility). Collateral is presented at base value (balance-sheet carrying amount for existing assets, purchase or invoice cost for new equipment) and at a conservative liquidation value with haircuts of 55–75% recovery by asset category, approximating an orderly forced sale. Working capital (EUR 30,000, 5.2% of the facility) and licensing costs (EUR 15,000, 2.6%) are excluded from the pledgeable base, as they are consumed in operations with no separable tangible residual.

Coverage metrics

The gap to full coverage at liquidation value comes from the non-pledgeable working capital and licensing components (EUR 45,000) and the conservative 55% haircut on heterogeneous small-infrastructure items. On a base-value basis, coverage exceeds 130% of principal and 112% of total repayment. The package rests mainly on identifiable industrial equipment — shredders, eddy current separators, cable granulators, XRF analysers, weighbridges and material handling machinery — from established manufacturers with active European secondary markets, straightforward to evidence and monitor. The existing machinery and equipment (EUR 180,000 carrying value, EUR 126,000 liquidation value) adds a layer independent of the loan’s execution. As the facility is commissioned, the collateral is supplemented by the revenue-generating capacity of the installed equipment and the buyer pipeline, shifting downside protection from liquidation value to operating cash-flow coverage over the loan tenor.

The facility finances the sorting and separation equipment, quality control infrastructure, environmental licensing and initial working capital needed to move from brokerage to in-house sorting. Approximately 92% (EUR 530,000) goes to tangible, identifiable assets with specific models, quantities and market-verifiable pricing, checked against European industrial equipment catalogues. Personnel, facility rent and ongoing operating costs are covered by the company’s own operating cash flow.

SIA Ramotti takes a EUR 575,000 term loan designed as a targeted equipment procurement and facility build-out instrument. The draw structure mirrors the operational sequence of the programme, so funding is available when each category of spending becomes necessary and is not held idle. The loan does not refinance historical obligations, fund general overhead or support the brokerage business, which is self-sustaining from its own cash flow.

Indicative facility terms

Tranche schedule and allocation

The six tranches follow the build-out: core sorting machinery first, then mechanical separation, manual disassembly and storage, material handling and facility systems, the quality control suite, and licensing, spare parts and working capital last. Each draw is linked to a defined project step — ordering, delivering, installing, commissioning and launching — and supported by documentary evidence (supplier invoices, proformas, purchase orders, delivery confirmations, permit documentation). Interest accrues only on disbursed amounts, reducing the effective cost during ramp-up.

SIA Ramotti is a Latvian e-waste collection, brokerage and trading company incorporated on 30 January 2019. It initially tested several commercial models within the e-waste value chain before consolidating around the collector–broker–trader model that has defined its operations from 2023 onward. Over seven years of continuous activity it has built a sourcing network spanning Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, established relationships with downstream recycling processors and metallurgical facilities across the EU, and developed a practical understanding of every link in the chain — from the composition and pricing of mixed electronic waste at collection, through the economics of sorting and fraction preparation, to the specifications and pay-rate structures of industrial buyers at the refining end.

The company positions itself not as a general scrap dealer but as a specialist e-waste intermediary with fraction-level expertise: it sources metal-rich electronic waste at competitive cost, classifies material by recoverable metal content and places specification-grade lots with the buyer type — precious-metals recycler, industrial smelter, secondary alloy producer or specialist PCB processor — where each fraction commands the strongest terms. The company is now executing a defined transition from pure brokerage to an integrated collector–sorter–trader model, with its own licenced sorting facility planned for Q2 2026.

Corporate identifiers: SIA Ramotti, a Latvian limited liability company (Sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību); Reģistrācijas Nr. 42103088650; PVN Nr. LV42103088650; registered address Baltā iela 24 – 49, Rīga, LV-1055, Latvia; share capital EUR 2,800.

Natālija Kuzmiča-Poliščuka is CEO and sole shareholder (100%). Under her direction the company has grown from a market-entry operation testing business models in 2019 to a commercially active e-waste brokerage generating EUR 1.0m in annual revenue with a contracted buyer pipeline spanning five countries.

Commercial and operational control is anchored in the CEO, who holds all principal supplier and buyer relationships and directs procurement, pricing and strategy. This gives decision-making speed in a transactional market where procurement timing and price negotiation require fast response, but creates the key-person concentration characteristic of early-stage, owner-managed micro-enterprises.

The business is single-line but dual-channel. The company procures mixed electronic waste from Baltic sourcing partners and sells specification-grade output fractions to industrial recycling and metallurgical processors. Under the current brokerage model the physical sorting is outsourced to licenced third-party partners; Ramotti controls the commercial chain from procurement to sale and captures the spread between mixed-input cost and sorted-output value. From Q2 2026 it moves the physical transformation to its own licenced facility and retains the full sorting spread now shared with processing partners.

Revenue is transactional: each consignment is weighed, classified by fraction and invoiced at the agreed price per tonne, with no subscription or retainer component. Repeatability comes from established buyer relationships and processors’ structural demand for consistent feedstock. Two output categories drive revenue:

• Precious-metal-bearing fractions — PCBs, connector assemblies and component-dense boards containing recoverable gold, silver and palladium, sold to specialist precious-metals recyclers at the highest per-tonne prices in the mix.
• Base metal fractions — copper windings, aluminium chassis, steel casings and other ferrous and non-ferrous components, sold to base metal recyclers at LME-referenced prices.

Mixed e-waste procured at approximately EUR 300–500 per tonne yields blended sorted output worth approximately EUR 1,200–1,800 per tonne. Under brokerage a material portion of this spread goes to the processing partner as a sorting fee (gross margin 14–18%); in-house sorting lets the company retain the full spread (target gross margin 30–35%).

The output portfolio consists of sorted e-waste fractions from discarded household appliances, consumer electronics and industrial equipment, classified by material composition and metal content:

Sourcing covers Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Output is sold across the EU, with destination markets set by the location of the buyer: precious-metals recyclers in Lithuania and Finland, an industrial smelter in Sweden, secondary alloy producers in Latvia and specialist PCB processors in the Netherlands.

Ramotti sells B2B into the industrial secondary raw materials market. Go-to-market is direct and relationship-driven: material is sourced through the Baltic supplier network and sorted output is placed with downstream buyers through established relationships, priced on lot composition, fraction purity and prevailing market benchmarks.

The 2026 buyer pipeline spans five buyer types: precious-metals recovery (NOVITERA UAB, Kat-Metal Oy), regional secondary materials trading (Metruna UAB, Baltic Recycling UAB), industrial smelter-grade processing (Boliden Group / Rönnskär), secondary aluminium alloy production (ALL Recycling SIA) and specialist PCB recycling (Holland Recycling B.V.).

The execution model is “source, arrange, place” under brokerage, becoming “source, sort, place” once the facility is commissioned. Mixed e-waste comes from a Baltic network developed since 2019 — companies with equipment recycling and disposal capabilities, consolidators of end-of-life electronics and institutional disposal programmes. The partner base is reported as sufficient to sustain the facility’s throughput (300–400 tonnes per annum at capacity) without a parallel expansion of procurement. On the facility the company will perform manual disassembly and mechanical separation itself; outbound transport stays with external logistics providers.

The current team of four covers the CEO (commercial relationships, procurement, strategy), a business development manager (supplier and buyer development), a dedicated engineer (sorting line design, equipment specification, facility commissioning) and an administrative assistant. The investment programme expands the team to 8–10 through 4–6 trained sorting operators and introduces the formalised processes, delegation and environmental compliance procedures a licenced facility requires. The engineer, on staff since 2025, will manage the facility in its initial phase.