Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1105798
Interserve aims to move on from tough period INTERSERVE CONSTRUCTION Interserve House Ruscombe Park Twyford Berkshire, RG10 9JU Tel: 0118 932 0123 www.interserve.com THE LEADERS 2019 Interserve said it remains "business as usual" aer entering administration in March, when its rescue plan was voted down by shareholders. In its results for the year ending 31 December 2018, the group reported that its net debt had climbed from £502.6 million to £631.2 million, although it saw a 9.7 per cent increase in total operating profit to £92.7 million. Having now been sold to a newly incorporated company controlled by its lenders, the group hopes the new arrangements will deliver "a strong balance sheet, competitive financial structure and a fundamentally solid foundation from which to deliver on its long-term strategy". Interserve, which works across sectors including aviation, defence, health and social care, oil and gas, transport and nuclear, has been active in the water industry for more than 75 years. The bulk of its current water work is part of a framework with Northumbrian Water, which was awarded for a 10-year period from 2015 with an estimated annual value of £50 million. Interserve is coming to the end of its framework with South West Water, although has an extension to March 2020, and has several live projects for Wessex Water, most of which will be completed in 2019. It is working on a £20 million project to improve Lundwood STW for Yorkshire Water and is also part of a Bristol Water framework, although Interserve said in April that there were no immediate projects planned. Primarily focused on non-infrastructure works, Interserve provides services including turnkey (design and build) project delivery, build-only projects, investigations and concept engineering, programme and project management. A company spokesperson said: "Our success has been built on our in-house resource, which consistently provides excellent results, recognising our customer's needs and understanding where we can make a positive difference." THE NUMBERS 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 % change Sales £m 770.7 941.0 1,006.0 1,043.2 1,110.5 6 Gross profit £m 51.8 53.3 51.7 -122.7 -33.1 n/a Operating profit £m 11.4 5.4 0.4 -174.3 -95.6 n/a Pre-tax profit £m 16.9 10.6 4.2 -173.5 -99.5 n/a Staff 1,998 2,164 2,258 2,363 2,292 -3 Net assets £m 49.9 50.6 55.0 -117.1 20.3 n/a THE RATIOS 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 % change Return on capital % 33.9 21.0 7.7 148.2 -489.6 n/a Gross margin % 6.7 5.7 5.1 -11.8 -3.0 n/a Operating margin % 1.5 0.6 0.0 -16.7 -8.6 n/a Net margin % 2.2 1.1 0.4 -16.6 -9.0 n/a Sales/employee £k 385.7 434.9 445.5 441.5 484.5 10 LEADERS 2019 17