WET News

THE LEADERS 2019 THE NUMBERS 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 % change Sales £m 518.4 585.3 614.0 655.5 778.4 19 Gross profit £m 30.7 33.0 35.2 35.8 41.0 14 Operating profit £m 19.2 20.0 23.9 23.7 25.5 8 Pre-tax profit £m 19.3 20.0 23.8 23.6 25.5 8 Staff 3,618 3,666 3,882 3,970 4,234 7 Net assets £m 116.8 131.7 150.8 169.2 189.8 12 THE RATIOS 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 % change Return on capital % 16.5 15.1 15.8 14.0 13.5 -4 Gross margin % 5.9 5.6 5.7 5.5 5.3 -4 Operating margin % 3.7 3.4 3.9 3.6 3.3 -9 Net margin % 3.7 3.4 3.9 3.6 3.3 -9 Sales/employee £k 143.3 159.7 158.2 165.1 183.8 11 MORRISON UTILITY SERVICES Abel Smith House Gunnels Wood Rd Stevenage SG1 2ST Tel: 01438 743 744 www.morrisonus.com Water and telecoms help MUS bolster profits Driven by increased volumes of work in water and telecoms, Morrison Utility Services, part of M Group Services, saw its revenues and profits rise for the year ending 31 March 2018. Turnover was up 18.7 per cent to £778.4 million despite a reduction in work in the electricity sector, while profits rose 8 per cent to £25.5 million. Water is a key part of the MUS offering. AMP6 clients include Thames Water and Yorkshire Water, while its Caledonia Water Alliance with AECOM for Scottish Water has a contract until 2021. At the end of last year, MUS was awarded a four-year water network alliance contract with Welsh Water, with the option of a three-year extension, including repair and maintenance of clean water network assets, new water main connections, metering, zonal water cleansing, mains renewal and provision of services to developers for non-household customers. It is also among the companies delivering detection services as part of Thames Water's new eight-year, £200 million leakage contracts and will be responsible for maintenance work on the northern region of United Utilities' water network for the next six years, in addition to working on its small water projects. MUS offers a diverse range of water services from pipelines and metering to water quality improvement and flood reduction, and it benefits from the presence of complementary companies within the ever-growing M Group stable. M Group, which was acquired by PAI Partners from First Reserve last year, contains Morrison Data Services, Dyer & Butler, Magdalene, PMP Utilities and M Group Services Plant & Fleet Solutions, and so far in 2019 it has added Industrial Water Jetting Systems, the drainage division of Tomato Plant Company and telecoms company Avonline Networks. MURPHY Hiview House Highgate Road London NW5 1TN Tel: 020 7267 4366 www.murphygroup.com J. Murphy & Sons saw an increase in revenue to £711.9 million in its 2017 report and, while operating and pre-tax profits dipped, it was able to report a gross margin of 47.1 per cent. The growth in revenue resulted from that year's acquisition of AECOM Design & Build Ireland, which worked with Irish Water and Northern Ireland Water, and an increase in activity in Murphy's Canadian business. The company put the dip in pre-tax profits – from £23.3 million to £12.4 million – down to some challenging contracts including pipeline projects in Canada and power work in the north of England and Scotland, as well as an increase in overhead costs as it invested in developing its capability to support future growth. It is already enjoying the benefits of that increase in capability, with Murphy picking up some impressive water sector contracts in the last 12 months. Murphy boosted by process offering As well as a place on Severn Trent's capital delivery design-and- build framework for AMP7, it has enjoyed project wins such as a water treatment plant in Cork (€24 million) and Stillorgan reservoir (€80 million) for Irish Water; a sewer improvement programme north of Bristol for Wessex Water (£42 million); and an energy and recycling facility for Yorkshire Water in Huddersfield (£40 million). "The acquisition of our process engineering capability in 2017 has been instrumental in helping Murphy win some of these important projects," water sector director Stuart Rothery tells The Leaders 2019. "We already have a legacy of delivering excellent civils and infrastructure work. We believe we have a strong opportunity to build on that and offer better, smarter solutions to our clients. It's vital we get close to the challenges that water companies are facing in the AMP7 regulatory period, and develop integrated, effective and innovative solutions that help them deliver and really benefit their customers." THE NUMBERS 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 % change Sales £m 665.9 657.7 629.1 613.9 711.9 16 Gross profit £m 242.4 278.4 258.4 310.2 335.4 8 Operating profit £m 7.5 -15.9 2.5 15.4 0.7 -96 Pre-tax profit £m 34.7 -9.7 13.8 23.3 12.4 -47 Staff 3,951 4,278 3,660 3,646 3,878 6 Net assets £m 219.7 200.9 207.5 214.1 218.5 2 THE RATIOS 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 % change Return on capital % 15.8 -4.8 6.7 10.9 5.7 -48 Gross margin % 36.4 42.3 41.1 50.5 47.1 -7 Operating margin % 1.1 -2.4 0.4 2.5 0.1 -96 Net margin % 5.2 -1.5 2.2 3.8 1.7 -54 Sales/employee £k 168.5 153.7 171.9 168.4 183.6 9 24 LEADERS 2019

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