Financial

Durham-based Esh Holdings achieved higher group turnover but slightly lower pre-tax profit in 2022, according to its latest annual report. The contractor posted group revenue of £260.9m for the year ending 31 December, marking a 2.3 per cent year-on-year increase. Profit before tax fell from £3m to £2m. Esh broadened…

Lee Marley has reported a pre-tax loss of £2.1m despite a record turnover. The brickwork and scaffolding specialist – one of the UK’s top 10 envelope contractors in the CN Specialists Index 2022 – blamed exceptional material and wage inflation. It also underperformed on a handful of contracts in its…

The construction sector has declined further in Northern Ireland as part of a wider private sector downturn, extending the summer’s economic malaise into the autumn, according to a new report. The Ulster Bank purchasing managers’ index (PMI) found that activity fell in September across all four sectors covered by the…

Essex-based scaffolding, formwork and materials provider Peri Limited has posted decreases in turnover and profit for 2022, although the firm was still able to broaden its pre-tax margin. In its annual financial results for the year ending 31 December 2022, the company reported a 7.6 per cent fall in turnover…

Vistry has written to its subcontractors asking for a 10 per cent reduction on the prices agreed in current contracts, sparking anger in the sector. In an email sent to suppliers last month, the housebuilder said its exit from private housebuilding –  which it announced last month – to focus…

Bouygues UK has posted a £42m pre-tax loss after almost doubling its building-safety provisions. The contractor’s accounts for the year to 31 December 2022 showed it slumped from an £835,000 pre-tax profit in 2021. Its turnover also slid, to £382m from £484m in the year before. The French-owned company, which…

Tilbury Douglas made a £94m pre-tax loss last year due to legacy costs associated with its separation from Interserve Group. The company also saw its turnover fall from £463.5m to £405.2m in the year ending 31 December 2022, with directors saying a fall in workload “reflected difficulties experienced in winning…

Construction activity dropped sharply last month, led by a further slump in housebuilding. The S&P Global/CIPS UK latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) plunged from 50.8 in August to 45.0 in September (scores above 50.0 suggest growth, while those under 50.0 indicate decline). The index for residential work, standing at 38.1,…

Halsion grew its turnover and saw its pre-tax profit more than double in its latest set of financial results, although this was partly due to an extended reporting period covering the 18 months ending 30 September 2022. The mechanical and electrical (M&E) specialist reported a £7.3m pre-tax profit in its…

Buckingham Group was the highest-profile casualty in September as business failures increased by 40 per cent year-on-year The three months from July to September saw 101 construction-company administrations – a record quarterly total since Construction News began publishing monthly data from Creditsafe in January 2020. The September total of 28…