SEC pushes pre-tax profit higher to £23m

Southern Electric Contracting (SEC) has made a sparkling pre-tax profit of £23m, up on the £19m figure in the previous year.

Latest financial results (12 months to 31 March 2007) show turnover running to £310m (£280m).

Thanks to the healthy profit, the directors are planning to pay out a £17m dividend, well up on the previous dividend figure of £5m.

SEC’s joint venture with Interserve, called Pride, has now completed the second year of a seven-year contract worth £400m to provide M&E maintenance for over 100 Ministry of Defence sites in London and the south east of England.

In partnership with the asset finance division of the Royal Bank of Scotland, SEC has contracts worth over £700m to replace and maintain streetlight for four local authorities in England under PFI deals.

The lighting services business has expanded further thanks to a £350,000 contract with Aberdeen City Council. The group says that this contract is “key to establishing SEC as a lighting services provider in Scotland and has led to a contract with Fife Council and an expression of interest from West Lothian Council.”

SEC reports that its priorities for the next 12 months are:

• to further develop a mechanical solution within the business
• strengthen corporate governance
• build on the Leeds PFI

The forward orderbook has improved to £84m, a rise of £3m.

At the year-end, the level of debt-over-60-days was close on £5m (£3m). The overall debt level was maintained at 13.6% of turnover even with a significant rise in turnover.

An incentivised cycle purchase scheme was introduced to encourage staff to cycle to work. There has also been a push to increase the use of business travel by train.