New CEO eschews acquisitions

Bam Construct UK鈥檚 new chief executive James Wimpenny has said the contractor wants to grow organically rather than by bolting on acquired businesses.

As the firm, which is carrying out work on Argent鈥檚 schemes at King鈥檚 Cross in London as well as its Paradise scheme in Birmingham, having taken over a job to complete a building being built by the collapsed Carillion, reported pre-tax profits of 拢19.3m for 2017 on turnover of 拢957.5m, down 11%, Wimpenny also said a 鈥減articular focus in 2018 would be on modernising our business management systems to align with the fact that we are becoming a digital data-driven business鈥�.

While 2017鈥檚 pre-tax profit fell 26%, after stripping out a 拢12m pension gain in 2016, last year鈥檚 underlying operating profit rose from 拢13m to 拢18.2m, up 40%.

Bam鈥檚 order book dipped by 拢30m to 拢1.6bn.

The firm鈥檚 construction business, the largest subsidiary of the Royal Bam-owned group, reported turnover of 拢903.6m, down 8.5% year-on-year.

Wimpenny, who replaced Graham Cash as chief executive in January, said: 鈥淏am Construct UK has been consistently profitable for more than a decade. We operate in a high risk, low margin industry.鈥�

Earlier this month Warwickshire-based builder Stepnell hired the former boss of Bam鈥檚 UK construction business, Richard Bailey, as a director.

 

 

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