Galliford Try reports profit and revenue uptick

Galliford Try has reported a £7.2m profit for the second half of 2022.

The Uxbridge-based contractor, which announced interim financial results this morning (8 March), made more profit in the period than in the whole of its 2021/22 financial year (£5.2m) after losing £2.6m in the last six months of 2021.

Galliford Try’s revenue also increased by £85m, or 14 per cent, in the six months to 31 December 2022 compared with the same period a year earlier. Revenue jumped from £594m to £679m.

The group’s profit was boosted by £3.6m made from the disposal of its stake in an unnamed joint venture – and it would have been £4.5m higher but for exceptional costs relating to “investment in the implementation of cloud-based IT systems”.

Galliford Try said its operating margin increased from 2.2 per cent to 2.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis, with its profit before tax and exceptional items set to be around £22m or £23m for its full financial year, which ends 30 June.

The contractor is targeting margins of 3 per cent and revenue of £1.6bn by 2026 and has a £3.5bn order book – with 90 per cent comprising public-sector work.

The builder is focusing investment on moving into three sectors: developing private rental schemes for onward sale to real estate companies; working on maintenance in the water sector; and retrofitting buildings.

In the last six months of 2022, the company had an average month-end cash position of £154m, down slightly from £180m in the previous year due to acquisitions and investment in IT.

Galliford Try chief executive Bill Hocking told Construction News that the company “deliberately recapitalised the balance sheet” through the sale of its Linden Homes and Galliford Try Partnerships divisions in 2020.

“It helps winning work,” he said. “There are examples of public-sector and private-sector jobs where we have been invited to negotiate one-on-one for a project because they have confidence that we will be there to finish the project.”

Hocking added: “I am pleased with the group’s performance in the first half of the financial year, seeing increasing revenue and divisional operating margin, as we continue to make good progress against our strategic objectives. Our strong performance is a reflection of our excellent people and well-established relationships with our supply chain and clients.

“In line with our sustainable growth strategy, we acquired the specialist businesses of MCS Control Systems and Ham Baker in the first six months of [Galliford Try’s financial] year, which further enhance our environment business’s offsite-build and asset-optimisation offering to clients.”