Collins Construction’s revenue and profit dropped last year, its latest accounts have revealed.
The Croydon-based refurbishment and fit-out specialist posted turnover of £124.1m for the 12 months to 30 June 2024.
It was a drop of 14 per cent from the prior period, while pre-tax profit dipped by 13 per cent to £362,900.
The firm, whose principal activity is fit-out and refurbishment work in the office and leisure sectors in London and the South East, said the Building Safety Act (BSA) had impacted lead times, while margins “continue to be challenging in the current market”.
It said one of its jobs took “a material backwards movement in 2024, resulting in a £900,000 reduction to profit”.
Collins said it had introduced new processes to mitigate against this “disappointing” event happening again.
The contractor said it had received more than £4m from HMRC after a successful verdict in a claim relating to research and development tax credits for previous years.
Collins added that it continued to focus on measures including incorporating price-fluctuation mechanisms in longer-term contracts.
It said it was carrying out a “strategic review” of how preconstruction services agreements (PCSA) were managed and priced “given the current trend for extended PCSA periods, particularly under BSA conditions”.
Collins said the BSA had pushed the pipeline of new projects back by “as much as six months”.
“This has meant that projects which previously could be relied upon to start promptly are being delayed,” it added.
The contractor said it was looking to place clauses in its contracts “where possible” to mitigate against delays in its suppliers obtaining materials from EU countries due to “increased levels of custom checks”.
The average number of people employed by Collins dropped from 167 in the year to June 2023 to 150 last year.
Nonetheless, employment costs rose from £14.1m to £14.7m. Director remuneration increased from £1.3m to £1.4m.
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Greg Pitcher