Van Elle revenue rises 35%

Van Elle has recorded revenue of £80.8m for the first half of its 2022/23 fiscal year, it revealed this morning.

Building on a healthy financial performance for the full-year to April 2022, when it returned to profit for the first time since 2019, the groundworks specialist said its revenue was up more than a third from the £60.1m it posted in the first half of the year before.

It also recorded a pre-tax profit of £3.3m, compared with £1.9m in the first half of its 2021/22 financial year. Operating profit was also “significantly ahead of the prior year [£2.3m]” at £3.5m, Van Elle added.

However, Van Elle chief executive Mark Cutler warned analysts and investors of a “challenging macro environment” for the company, which is the UK’s largest ground engineering contractor.

“Market conditions in the short term, especially in respect of new-build housing, are expected to be more challenging. However, Van Elle is well-positioned to benefit from opportunities across its breadth of end markets and diverse customer base,” Cutler noted.

Construction News recently reported that housebuilder Persimmon had paused some of its work due to “uncertain market conditions”.

Van Elle’s end markets include rail infrastructure, where Van Elle claimed strong activity levels as it “delivered major electrification programmes under framework agreements” in the first half of 2022/23.

Ongoing rail projects include the West of Leeds section of the multibillion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade, for which Van Elle was appointed to the piling framework in July 2022.

It also gained a position on the 10-year Smart Motorway Programme Alliance framework in May last year.

The firm’s statement also showed that its net debt increased slightly to £2.5m from £2m in the first half of 2021/22.

Excluding framework deals, Van Elle’s order book as of 31 October 2022 stood at £49m, although this decreased to £38m by the end of last year.

Van Elle remained confident of achieving its market expectations for the full fiscal year, citing “analyst consensus” of £5.2m to £5.4m in underlying profit.

London Stock Exchange-listed Van Elle saw its share price rise slightly from 48p when trading opened today to 50.4p at 12.20pm.