Galliford Try: £60m pre-tax profit

Galliford Try has held its pre-tax profit at £60m – the same figure as in the previous year.

Some £32m of the latest tally came from the Galliford’s construction arm while the housebuilding division, despite difficult market conditions, still managed to chip in an £11m contribution.

Gallifords’s latest annual results cover the 12 months to 30 June 2008.

Turnover was £1.8bn. In the previous year a turnover of £1.4bn produced a pre-tax profit of £60m.

Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive, said: “Our construction businesses have delivered a record performance, with increased profits and excellent cash generation. 

“While housebuilding has been affected by the severe downturn in the housing market, its effect has been mitigated by our early adoption of a policy of aggressive selling and our concentration on managing our debt.”

Divisional analysis shows the split of turnover as being:

• £610m – building
• £540m – infrastructure
• £490m – housebuilding
• £230m – affordable housing and regeneration
• ££5m – PPP investments

The pre-tax profit achieved by the five divisions, before allocation of £10m of group costs was:

• £17m – building
• £15m – infrastructure
• £11m – housebuilding
• £8m – affordable housing and regeneration
• £200,00 loss – PPP investments

Galliford’s group profit would have been higher but for exceptionals running to a total cost of £12m, the figure being made up of :

• £9m – write-down on the carrying value of land and abortive costs relating to site acquisitions
• £2m – redundancy costs
• £500,000 – provisions for onerous lease commitments

The latest results contain the first full-year’s contribution from Linden Homes. Integration has been completed and synergy savings are put at £3m a year.

Galliford is carrying £115m of goodwill, up from the previous figure of £110m.

Galliford cut its net debt back from £99m at the start of the year, to just £2m.

Building

The profit margin held firm. Performance was underpinned by “the generation of exceptional cash balances throughout the year”.

The project to rebuild the centre court stadium at Wimbledon made progress, with the structural work and the fixed perimeter roof completed and in operation for the 2008 championship.

Galliford is on course to complete the installation of the translucent retractable central roof for the 2009 championships.

Infrastructure

Margins inched higher and the net cash balance increased with the average balances “substantially higher” than in the prior year.

PPP investments

Galliford sold 50% of its 100% equity investment in the St Andrews Hospital in Scotland to an infrastructure investment fund, the project having been built and put into operation.

The huge costs involved in bidding for the largest BSF projects has made Galliford switch track and the focus is now on mid-sized projects.