Henry Boot makes £13m interim pre-tax profit

Henry Boot enjoyed an interim pre-tax profit of £13m on the back of a turnover running to £51m.

Boot’s financial figures covering the six months to 30 June, published this morning on the Stock Exchange, were well ahead of the comparable period last year, when turnover of £42m generated a pre-tax profit of £8m.

Jamie Boot, managing director, said: “The half-year was a period of progress.” Even without the bonus of a property revaluation, worth close on £3m, the latest trading profit was around 60% higher.

Boot has simplified its undertakings to two business streams: property and construction.

Property delivered the bulk of the profits. Boot has started work on what will be the largest motorway service area in the country. Sited on the M20 in mid-Kent, about 15 miles from the Channel Tunnel and the port of Dover, it will be completed in 12-18 months.

Crispin & Borst are undertaking the £10m-worth of construction work that is involved. “We don’t operate in the south – Boot is run out of Dronfield – and so this situation is fairly usual for us,” said Boot. “They came in with a reasonable price and programme.

“We’ve not used Crispin & Borst before. We did our own sums several years ago and put our own bid in, so yes, you can come unstuck later when you offer the work out like this. Sure, it occasionally happens but we use quantity surveyors and the like to produce our initial figure.

“Where things don’t work out, we have re-jigged a few to get closer to the agree price with the client.”

Boot’s construction division made £3.2m on a turnover of £29m. Building and civil engineering activity performed “much to expectations” though turnover dropped as a result of slippage in the start dates for several projects.

“They’re just delays,” said Boot. “It’s not that they’ve pulled the plug. It’s both private clients and our Home Office prison work.”

Road Link (A69) Holding, the PFI road maintenance joint venture that Boot is a member of, reported “impressive” results. Boot said it was 100% successful in meeting its targets in respect of call-outs, street lighting, service requests and problems attended to.

The group’s net assets jumped to £135m. The deficit in the group pension scheme fell by £6m to £30m as a result of a rise in bond yields.