黑洞社区

Galliford Try boss Bill Hocking has said fears of a recession in the industry are receding with projects previously mothballed now coming back on stream.

This week the latest S&P Global/CIPS UK Construction PMI figures showed total construction orders in February increased at their fastest pace for nine months.

Last autumn, Hocking told 黑洞社区 he thought any recession would be shallow and, announcing his firm鈥檚 half year results this morning, said worries of a tough year ahead were easing.

鈥淭he public sector has been fairly consistent [in their confidence] and the private sector is now a lot more bullish,鈥� he said.

Last year鈥檚 slowdown had been caused by rising inflation and political turmoil, notably the impact of last September鈥檚 mini-Budget, Hocking added.

鈥淎part from some politically-induced delays or the fear of recession, [the slowdown] has not affected the business at all.鈥�

The firm said it was expecting full-year pre-tax profit to be at the upper end of analysts鈥� expectations with the market consensus pencilling in profit of between 拢20m and 拢23.3m on revenue up 9% to 拢1.35bn.

But he warned that while inflation was slowing costs had not come down. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just that they鈥檙e not continuing to go up like they were.鈥�

The firm has written protection clauses for inflation into its contracts which Hocking said 鈥渕ost鈥� clients had been prepared to sign up for. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pleasing to see their pragmatism,鈥� he added.

Galliford Try said it spent a further 拢4.5m during the six months to December 2022 on upgrading its IT system following the 拢6m it shelled out in its last financial year.

Hocking said the upgrade would be completed by the end of June when its latest financial year draws to a close.

He also confirmed the firm would bid for social housing frameworks now a no-compete clause with Vistry, which bought its Linden Homes business three years ago, has elapsed.

The firm works in the private rented sector and is carrying out a 拢56m scheme in Milton Keynes and a 拢105m deal in Leeds 鈥� currently Galliford Try鈥檚 biggest job.

鈥淲e build residential schemes for private clients all the time. We鈥檝e got no reason we shouldn鈥檛 bid for [social hosing].鈥�

Hocking said the schemes it would look at would be mid-rise jobs for registered social landlords but added: 鈥淲e are not going to build houses.鈥�

Interim group turnover was up 14% to 拢679m with the firm climbing back into the black with a pre-tax profit of 拢7.6m from a 拢2.6m loss last time, after exceptional items, including costs associated with its deal to buy collapsed firm NMCN鈥檚 water business, blunted its bottom line. The firm鈥檚 order book at the end of last year was up 拢100,000 to 拢3.5bn with 95% of its work secured for the current financial year.