Family-owned contractor Heron Bros is touting further expansion after it grew its profit and turnover in the past year.
The Londonderry-based contractor scored a pre-tax profit of £11.7m in the year to 31 August 2024, slightly up on the prior year’s £11.6m.
Heron Bros’ turnover also rose steadily to £160.4m, up from £154.6m.
Executive chairman Damian Heron said the firm’s board of directors had “effectively” managed business risks over the course of the year.
The board was now “satisfied” that it was “strategically positioned to continue to expand in a controlled manner over the next 12 months”, he added.
It is the second year in a row that Heron Bros grew its turnover and profit – though its revenue rose faster in 2023 with a 35 per cent increase.
Cash at the contractor – which operates across sectors including education, leisure, retail and industrial – was slightly down to £29.2m from £30m.
“[Heron Bros is] expanding the existing construction and renewables sectors within which we operate and strengthening alliances with long-standing customers,” the firm said.
The contractor is also working with the group’s property division to pursue opportunities in “niche markets, residential developments, strategic joint ventures, and developments”, Heron said.
Heron Bros operates with a development model of identifying sites for design-and-build contracts, and then selling or leasing completed developments to the private and public sectors, he added.
On top of that, Heron Bros is investing “significantly” in its digital transformation programme, as part of its Vision 2030 strategy. The firm said that will “ensure IT systems continuity and resilience, greater collaboration, quality control, process efficiency, improved communication capabilities, efficient data capture, real time data analytics and use of artificial intelligence”.
Heron hinted that his firm will also focus more on the UK market due to “continued uncertainty at a local and national level and to avoid spending troughs”. Currently, Heron Bros operates across Ireland and Europe too.
Despite the uncertainty, he said he was “encouraged” by his firm’s strong balance sheet and order book.
Heron Bros did not pay out dividends over the course of the year.
Headcount decreased from a monthly average of 317 staff to 237, meaning that the firm’s annual wage bill fell from £13.4m to £12.2m.
Its latest jobs include a £24m project it scooped in June to build Neilston Learning Campus, which will combine two primary schools and a family centre in a single site in East Renfrewshire, Scotland.
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Joshua Stein