Financial

Turnover, pre-tax profit and margin have risen above pre-pandemic levels for the UK’s top contractors, the 2023 CN100 list reveals.  Aggregate revenue for the companies in the 2023 list approached £71bn, while average pre-tax profit rose by 25 per cent. Average profit margin outstripped its 2022 level with a year-on-year…

Kier has reported a sharp increase in profit and cash. The company made a £51.9m pre-tax profit in the year to 30 June 2023, a 226 per cent increase on the £15.9m made the year before. Its adjusted profit before tax stood at £104.8m – this is the group’s profit…

A £64m-turnover contractor based in East Sussex has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. Catsfield-based Westridge Construction Ltd made the move on Tuesday (12 September) and retained Cripps as legal counsel. Construction News approached Westridge Construction for comment yesterday afternoon (12 September), but received an automated message that…

New analysis shows that the number of medium-sized construction firms defaulting on their Covid loans has shot up. A total of 1,084 companies in the sector defaulted at least once on their Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) repayments, up to the end of June this year. Construction now has…

Stepnell has reported small rises in turnover and pre-tax profit for the year to 31 March, in documents posted with Companies House yesterday (12 September). Revenue from construction contracts held by the Rugby-based firm rose from £90.5m to £93.7m, marking a 3.5 per cent year-on-year increase. Pre-tax profit also ticked…

Construction output will contract by 8 per cent this year due to a sharp fall in housing work, according to PwC. The multinational consultancy said residential output will suffer a 21 per cent drop this year, due to the impact of interest rates. It added that construction of commercial projects…

Two leading trade bodies have thrown their support behind Construction News’ payment survey and called on specialist contractors to share their experiences of being paid. The anonymous survey asks subcontractors about the terms and timings of payments from tier one contractors, as well as issues relating to discounting and retentions.…

VolkerWessels took a £14m hit on tax last year after losing a legal dispute with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The complex case related to the Dutch-owned contractor’s attempts to set off losses for its former Volker Stevin Construction Europe arm, a Netherlands-registered entity operating in the UK. During 2007-9,…

J Tomlinson owed £33m to creditors when it collapsed in July. Hundreds of suppliers are set to lose money from the insolvency, with assets for the 100-employee company expected to be worth only £788,000, according to joint administrators Rajnesh Mittal and Nathan Jones of FRP Advisory. While primary preferential creditors…

The UK’s largest housebuilder, Barratt Developments, is dropping its output amid “difficult” market conditions. Barratt reported an increase in profit for the year ending 30 June, from £642m to £705m, after its costs associated with legacy properties fell from over £413m to £179m. Turnover also increased, by 1 per cent…