Byrne Bros (Formwork) achieves 3.7% profit margin

Byrne Bros (Formwork) has reported a pre-tax profit of £4.8m which represents a margin of 3.7%.

The latest figure follows a 3.6% margin in the previous year when a profit of £5.1m was achieved on the back of a £140m turnover.

Byrne’s latest figures cover the 12 months to 31 May 2008.

Turnover was down by £13m to £127m as a result of programme slippage “on a few projects”.

Byrne said: “The bulk of this slippage is being recovered in the first half of the 2009 year.”

However in the second half of the current period it said that a substantial dip in turnover was on the cards because of difficult market conditions.

Overall, turnover in the current year is likely to run to around £150m though profit could be “slightly lower” and even that forecast is provided that cost reductions are achieved.

“We are alive to the prospect of a downturn in workload and to the resultant reduction in cash flow and profitability,” said Byrne in its directors’ statement.

“However, with the contracts running into 2010 that are already in place and a strong client base, the board retains a positive outlook for the future.”

The average days in which payments are made are:

• 23 days – subcontractors
• 32 days – trade creditors

Net funds at the end of the period stood at £7.6m which was a major improvement over the situation 12 months earlier when net funds were in deficit to the tune of £2.4m.

Shareholders withdrew a dividend running to £2m, the same as the previous year.

Byrne has 430 employees:

• 10 directors
• 280 direct labour
• 140 administration and technical

The wage bill ran to £20m while the group’s pension cost was a further £290,000.

The 10 directors took £93,000 of this for their pension contribution and a further £3.5m by way of pay.

The highest-paid director alone was paid £578,000 which was a tad higher than his figure of £500,000 in 2007.