McLaren turnover to hit £160m

Acquisitive Essex contractor McLaren Construction is expecting turnover to surge to £160m this financial year after snapping-up contracts following the collapse of William Verry and Cornhill Construction.

McLaren is about to post its latest results at Companies House, which will show an operating profit of £15.5m on the back of £130m turnover for the year to July 2008.

The firm is now looking to continue its strategy of switching emphasis among its operating areas as work in its traditional stronghold of industrial and distribution centres continues to dry up.

McLaren secured the contracts of William Verry in May and has taken over a string of jobs, including the £56m City of Westminster College in central London, which is due for completion in 18 months.

The firm is also on site on a number of Cornhill jobs following the firm's failure in March.

McLaren chairman Kevin Taylor said the deals fitted perfectly with the firm's current strategy.

He said: "Our latest results are really strong, but some of the sectors we have specialised in have been drying-up recently as we envisaged.

"To counter that, we are looking to expand into other areas like education, hotels and leisure. We have experience in those areas and we are now looking for even more work in those markets.

"The Verry deal allowed us to expand in the education field and build on our expertise."

Taylor said McLaren is hoping to achieve a 60% private/40% public split in its workloads.

He said: "We are constantly keeping our ear to the ground for opportunities."

Around £14m of the 2007/08 profits will go into an Employees Benefit Trust, which acts as investment vehicle keeping profits under the control of the firm.

The workforce at McLaren has now expanded to 200 and the firm has just secured its operator's licence in Dubai, where it is in the hunt for three projects.