Southern Electric Contracting's turnover up £90m to £400m

Southern Electric Contracting, the M&E specialist contractor, has seen turnover surge ahead to more than £400m.

SEC’s latest figures cover the 12 months to 31 March 2008 and show pre-tax profit also higher at £34m.

In the previous year a turnover of £310m generated a pre-tax profit of £23m.

The best performing division was Building Services.

SEC’s higher turnover was the result of both organic growth and acquisitions. In February 2008, SEC bought:

• Hills Electrical and Mechanical plc
• Seeboard Trading

The latter changed its name to SEC Lighting Services Trading. It operates street lighting PFI’s for two London councils (Ealing and Islington) as well as for Dorset county council.

SEC’s existing PFI contracts are operated in a joint venture with the asset finance division of the Royal Bank of Scotland. They have a value of over £700m.

The group states: “The priorities for 2008 are to complete the integration of the businesses acquired, to maintain strong organic growth and to develop further PFI opportunities.”

The forward orderbook now stands at £100m, representing a rise of £16m.

SEC’s directors report that they have “a continual focus on minimising the level of debt (over 60 days) as a proportion of turnover and at the end of the financial year this figure stood at £4.1m (figure at the same time in previous year: £4.8m)

“The overall debt level within the company was 13.5% (2007: 13.6%) of turnover.

Trade creditors were paid in an average of 28 days, up from the previous figure of 23 days.

SEC has 4,400 employees: 800 in management and administration, together with 3,600 in direct labour.

The wages and salaries bill climbed from £93m to £129m.

The highest-paid director’s pot was £385,000 which includes an element that came through his long-term incentive scheme. He has accrued the right to an annual pension, further down the line, running to £51,000 a year.

SEC is owned by Scottish and Southern Energy.