£1m profit at Thomas Armstrong

Thomas Armstrong (Construc-tion) has made a pre-tax profit of £1m on an annual turnover of £45m. "We've had a good year," said finance director Paul Armstrong.
Profit in the 12 months to 27 September 2003 was well ahead of the previous figure of £730,000. The improvement is put down to favourable working conditions. Armstrong enjoyed good weather last year in the two regions where it operates - the North East and the North West.
Based in Maryport, Cumbria, the group undertakes general building, civil engineering and industrial contracting. Its first PFI contract, the £5m Workington police station project, is said to be going well.
More recently, it has won a second PFI deal. This is the £6m Workington community hospital. The PFI consortium here is led by Thomas Armstrong (Holdings), the parent company of the construction business. Its equity contribution will be supplemented by further funds from CCPL, a group run by David Hill, a local private equity investor.
"We are happy with PFI where we feel in control," Armstrong said. "You have to be on the job to look after it properly, so we wouldn't go beyond our two geographic regions. The government's new lower limit of £20m for future PFI schemes could hit us."
Most of Armstrong's non-PFI schemes fall within the range of £500,000 to £3m.