Modest profit climb for Montpellier as acquisitions bed in

Montpellier Group has spent the last six months bedding down recent acquisitions and as a result its interim turnover stays at £210m, little changed over the comparable period last year.

Latest figures (six months to 31 March) published today (Friday) show a pre-tax profit of £2.9m, a modest climb on the previous figure of £2.7m and representing an operating margin of 1.4%.

After a vigorous period of change, Montpellier has bedded down into three operating divisions: investment, construction and property.

Montpellier differs from other construction groups in its willingness to pour funds into an investment division where the bounds of interest are quite wide reaching.

Over the past 15 months it has taken minority stakes (from 7% to 30%) in Bullough (manufacture of oil-fired boilers, central heating units and office furniture), Cape (industrial services), Jarvis Porter (glass manufacture and pigments for printing ink) Walter Greenbank (wall coverings and fabrics) and Quadnetics (CCTV systems).-