WASTE management firm Biffa yesterday extended the deadline for a potential takeover as it revealed it had set aside £20m to settle a hefty potential tax bill which has complicated the deal.

The extension came as the firm announced its full year results, revealing that revenues had jumped 39 per cent to £1.44bn on the previous year when its operations were hit by the pandemic, with pretax losses narrowed to £28.6m, down from £52.8m last year.

But bosses said they had set aside £20m as the firm braces for the impact of an enquiry by HMRC over whether it complied with landfill tax requirements, which had previously proved a hiccup in the takeover swoop by US private equity outfit Energy Capital Partners.

The firm said it had now pushed back a deadline for a takeover bid to 30 August, after indicating it was "minded to recommend" a takeover bid of 445p per share in cash to shareholders last month.

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