Rok benefits from Ballast acquisitions

Rok Property Solutions has made a pre-tax profit of £4.3m in the first half of 2004 from a turnover of £210m.

“Since we embarked on our strategy in 2000, we have delivered a four-fold increase in turnover, a 10-times increase in operating profit and have grown the share price by nearly 600%,” chairman Bob Carlton-Porter said.

The entire property portfolio acquired with Llewellyn in 2002 has been disposed of and the Crawley branch has now started on several new development projects.

In building and planned maintenance, the four Ballast branches in the north of England and Scotland contributed a turnover of £24m. The division’s operating margin ran to 2% despite additional charges for insurance, pensions and planned investments in IT.

Spaceage, the building components division, disappointed as turnover eased back 14% to £2.9m and resulted in an operating loss of £500,000. In recent weeks, a new management team has been installed.