Waste management company Shanks Group said it had continued to trade robustly despite challenging market conditions, as it issued a pre-close trading update ahead of the release of annual results in May.

The Milton Keynes-based group said the board expected the results to be "broadly in line with expectations". It warned of pressure on volumes and prices in some of its businesses in Europe, with a slower than anticipated pick-up in activity in March - with the tough conditions expected to continue through 2014 - but said it was making good progress on strategic goals including cost-cutting and generating cash through the exit of underperforming activities.