{"id":853039,"date":"2025-06-03T09:11:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T14:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/economic-uncertainty-pushes-down-profit-at-scaffolding-firm\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:11:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T14:11:51","slug":"economic-uncertainty-pushes-down-profit-at-scaffolding-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/economic-uncertainty-pushes-down-profit-at-scaffolding-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic \u2018uncertainty\u2019 pushes down profit at scaffolding firm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Scaffolding_shutterstock.jpg\"<\/p>\n

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A major scaffolding firm has blamed cost inflation, economic uncertainty and a reduction in new starts for its dipping profit.<\/p>\n

Uxbridge-based PHD Modular Access Services said it was \u201csatisfied with the results particularly in light of the fiscal and diminished macro environment\u201d that the construction industry had faced.<\/p>\n

It posted a pre-tax profit of \u00a3987,000 in the year to 30 August 2024, down from \u00a31.5m the previous year. Turnover, though, grew to \u00a323.3m from \u00a322.6m.<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s margin narrowed from 6.8 per cent to 4.2 per cent.<\/p>\n

PHD \u2013 the 10th<\/sup> biggest scaffolding specialist in<\/a> the UK in last year\u2019s CN Specialists Index \u2013 said the wider construction market had now \u201cstabilised somewhat from cost inflation and reduced new starts\u201d, wage and material inflation, and tightened market conditions cause by the heightened cost of borrowing.<\/p>\n

It said it improved its operating position by \u201cproactively engaging\u201d with the supply chain and client base, adding that it had benefited from a strong balance sheet and having \u201csubstantial plant in hand\u201d.<\/p>\n

To deal with the uncertainty in the economic climate, the firm focused on developing its current relationships with \u201ctop developers and contractors\u201d in the UK and Europe, it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also worked collaboratively with our key suppliers and supply chain to minimise any effect of the current climate,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The firm works mainly in the heritage, industrial, defence, infrastructure and commercial sectors.<\/p>\n

It increased its cash at hand almost ninefold, rising from \u00a317,098 to to \u00a3129,290 by the end of its financial year.<\/p>\n

No dividends were paid out but PHD owed \u00a3432,901 in bank overdrafts and \u00a384,682 in bank loans repayable within 12 months. The firm also held \u00a3141,150 in bank loans repayable after more than one year.<\/p>\n

In the latest financial year, it reduced its staff numbers to 127 from 132, with its spend on wages decreasing from \u00a36.7m to \u00a36.3m.<\/p>\n

In its accounts, PHD pointed to its plan to \u201cactively expand\u201d its operations in the UK infrastructure sector, alongside its continuing aim to expand its overseas work in Spain, Germany, Ireland and Denmark.<\/p>\n

Like the rest of the construction sector, scaffolding firms are struggling to recruit enough workers to fill its vacancies. Earlier this year, National Access & Scaffolding Confederation chief executive Clive Dickin called on the government to ease immigration rules to plug the gaps in the workforce.<\/p>\n

In April, he told\u00a0Construction News\u00a0<\/em>the government will struggle to meet its housing and infrastructure targets without those changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At CN Intelligence you can view and filter seven years\u2019 worth of detailed financial information on the top UK construction firms via our interactive dashboards. Access in-depth written analysis of the numbers along with targeted data and analysis on specialist contractors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Related Article<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Joshua Stein<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A major scaffolding firm has blamed cost inflation, economic uncertainty and a reduction in new starts for its dipping profit. Uxbridge-based PHD Modular Access Services said it was \u201csatisfied with the results particularly in light of the fiscal and diminished macro environment\u201d that the construction industry had faced. It posted a pre-tax profit of \u00a3987,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":853040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22270,28070],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-853039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economic","8":"category-uncertainty"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}