WET News

LEADERS 2018 19 THE LEADERS 2018 GEORGE LESLIE Blackbyres Road Barrhead Glasgow G78 1DU Tel: 0141 881 9131 www.georgeleslie.co.uk George Leslie enjoyed a year of strong activity in the 2016-7 financial year with an impressive 53 per cent upli• in sales and 43 per cent increase in operating profit; it placed fourth among the contractors in the WET News Leaders database for sales growth. The Glasgow-based firm is a privately owned civil engineering contractor focusing on the water, wastewater, marine and energy sectors in Scotland. Current projects include marine works for the £250 million regeneration of Queen's Quay in Clydebank, which is being partly funded by West Dunbartonshire Council. It has also played a central role in a series of projects over five years to prevent flooding in the Greater Glasgow area. The high revenue for 2016/17 could be attributed in large part to a contract to construct a new ferry terminal at Brodick on the Isle of Arran. "Given the significant George Leslie enjoys strong year of activity increase in turnover, the continued successful delivery of projects relied heavily on the commitment and hard work of employees throughout the company," director John McNaught said. "With the completion of several larger contracts, a return to a more normal level of turnover is forecast for the current year, but the company remains well positioned to continue delivering projects in its core sectors where the company's resources, experience and expertise can add value to our clients." George Leslie's work on Wemyss Bay Pier and Ferry Terminal last year won the Infrastructure Award at the UK-wide RICS Grand Final Awards Dinner. In the water sector, George Leslie carries out large diameter water main and sewer replacement as well as tunnelling, deep pumping stations and the construction of water and wastewater treatment works. Its in-house pipeline services division complements its core water-related activities providing CCTV and pipeline jetting expertise. GALLIFORD TRY Wolvey Hinckley Leicestershire LE10 3JH Tel: 01455 222753 www.gallifordtry.co.uk Galliford Try seeks disciplined approach Hybrid firm Galliford Try – which acts as both a housebuilder and a contractor – revealed on Valentine's Day this year that its group revenue had reached £1.5 billion in the first half of its 2017/18 financial year. This was up 14 per cent from the same period in the prior year, while pre-tax profit fell 11 per cent over the same timeframe. Galliford Try's Infrastructure division held "strong positions" in the water and wastewater sector as well as flood alleviation, according to the firm. Revenue in the division soared from £250 million in the six months to 31 December 2016 to £320 million a year later. Pre-exceptional profit from operations more than trebled to £4.2 million. This meant pre-exceptional margin more than doubled to 1.3 per cent. The order book in the infrastructure division stood at £978 million at the start of 2018. Galliford Try said when announcing its full-year results in September that it had taken steps to "ensure a more disciplined approach towards project selection", adding: "We are focusing on lower-risk public and regulated sectors and two-stage negotiated work, rather than large infrastructure projects on fixed-price, all-risk contracts." It confirmed it had been made a Tier 1 alliance partner for Scottish Water, responsible for delivering its Quality and Standards IV capital investment programme to 2021. Nick Salt was promoted to MD of the firm's infrastructure division in September. Chris Scoffield became MD of the rail, aviation and environment unit, which sits within infrastructure, a month later. A flood-risk management project delivered by a joint venture of Galliford Try and Black & Veatch won the Community Project prize at the Institution of Civil Engineers North West Awards earlier this year. The River Mersey Warrington scheme provided some 5km of walls and more than 2km of embankments to protect the town. THE NUMBERS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Sales £m 386.8 355.3 359.6 451.0 482.9 7 Gross profit £m 21.2 21.0 24.7 18.6 -59.3 n/a Operating profit £m 3.4 1.8 2.6 -1.4 -82.5 n/a Pre-tax profit £m 4.3 2.4 3.5 -0.9 -83.3 n/a Staff 1,541 1,084 1,005 1,253 1,311 5 Net assets £m 39.8 41.7 45.1 44.5 48.2 8 THE RATIOS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Return on capital % 10.8 5.9 7.8 -2.0 -172.9 n/a Gross margin % 5.5 5.9 6.9 4.1 -12.3 n/a Operating margin % 0.9 0.5 0.7 -0.3 -17.1 n/a Net margin % 1.1 0.7 1.0 -0.2 -17.3 n/a Sales/employee £k 251.0 327.8 357.8 360.0 368.4 2 THE NUMBERS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Sales £m 37.1 40.8 34.8 44.8 68.4 53 Gross profit £m 10.7 10.9 11.4 13.7 16.8 23 Operating profit £m 0.9 0.6 0.9 1.7 2.5 43 Pre-tax profit £m 0.9 0.7 0.9 1.8 2.6 42 Staff 166 172 174 193 229 19 Net assets £m 4.3 4.9 6.1 7.1 9.1 28 THE RATIOS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Return on capital % 21.0 13.7 15.2 25.8 28.7 11 Gross margin % 28.8 26.8 32.6 30.5 24.6 -20 Operating margin % 2.4 1.5 2.5 3.9 3.6 -6 Net margin % 2.4 1.6 2.7 4.1 3.8 -7 Sales/employee £k 223.3 237.2 200.1 232.0 298.5 29

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