Diversity pays dividends for UK contractor.
Keltbray Group today announced a 50 percent increase in turnover for the financial year ending 31 October 2014, from £144.7 million to £216.9 million. In the 39-year history of the Group, this is Keltbray’s best ever performance.
Gross profit increased by 40 percent from £26.9 million to £37.6 million, while operating profit before interest was £7.9 million (3.7 percent); an increase of £5.4 million from 2013. The Group’s cash position improved from £3.8 million to £10.4 million in hand at the year end.
Keltbray Group employs around 900 people and has three reporting streams: Demolition & Civil Engineering, Rail and Environmental Materials Management.
Keltbray’s Demolition & Civil Engineering business stream, which covers over 70 percent of Keltbray’s business and includes piling, asbestos management, engineering design consultancy as well as haulage and plant hire, increased turnover by more than 66 percent. This is a result of securing a good, long term pipeline of work.
About Keltbray’s 2014 results, Chief Executive Officer, Brendan Kerr, said: “2014 saw a continued strengthening of our performance. This improvement has been driven by the demolition and civil engineering business stream, where experienced project teams supported by our in-house design capability, provide innovative solutions and delivery on complex challenging projects such as Earls Court, Bradwell Power Station, Angel Court and London Bridge stations.
“Our piling and asbestos businesses are now established as major players in their sectors and allow us to offer an integrated service to our clients which cannot be matched in the UK market. As part of our works at Chelsea Barracks, the piling business was awarded a £10 million contract for secant piling that was successfully completed in a tight timeframe of 34 weeks. The asbestos removal business won a large framework contract with Royal Mail covering all their UK properties and a considerable project on the major development at Battersea Power Station. This is likely to be succeeded by further contract awards for our other demolition and civil engineering businesses.
“To secure the future of our business and plug the widely reported skills gap, which is one of the biggest challenges our industry faces, we will continue our focus on development and training, and build on the number of apprentices and trainees, which increased by 43% in 2014.
“We do not anticipate another year of 50% growth but will achieve double digit turnover growth in 2015 and look forward to developing our existing and new businesses aligned with our core sectors.”
