Morgan Sindall boosted by affordable housing

Morgan Sindall has seen turnover in its Affordable Housing business roar ahead in the first half of the year with the result that the division has become the group’s biggest earner.

Affordable Housing produced a record profit of £5.7m, more than double that of the same period last year. Margins strengthened to 3.2% and turnover increased by 50% to £180m.

Speaking this morning, chairman John Morgan said: “Our order book in social housing today stands at £700m, well ahead of the £200m figure two years ago. It’s the result of government ticking off more schemes.

“We bought Carillion’s social housing business which brought us leadership in refurbishment and as most new schemes call for both new build and refurbishment, we are well placed as we do both. Also, the Carillion acquisition brought us into Scotland which, in social housing terms, is effectively the biggest building site in Europe.”

Morgan Sindall’s group figures (six months to 30 June) show turnover at a record £610m, with pre-tax profit strengthening to £12m, yielding an overall margin of 1.9%.

Construction – the group’s bete noir in recent years- looks to have turned the corner. Margins were up from 0.1% to 0.5% with the latest turnover of £130m producing a profit of £600,000.

“I’m much happier with construction,” Morgan said. “We’re halfway through a journey.”