WET News

LEADERS 2018 33 THE LEADERS 2018 TRANT ENGINEERING Rushington House Southampton SO40 9LT Tel: 023 8066 5544 www.trant.co.uk Trant Engineering has evolved from its position as a traditional civil contractor to focus, as the company strapline says, on delivering total engineering. The emphasis is on new ideas and enhancing in-house capabilities to increase control over projects and deliver efficiency. The company's figures for 2016 show an increase in sales to £98.3 million and gross profit to £7 million, although operating profit (£1.7 million) and pre-tax profit (£1.6 million) saw minor dips. Turnover was up 34 per cent to £105.4 million, and the company said last year that annual turnover was targeted at up to £140 million. Trant – which covers process and water, energy, nuclear, and oil and gas – counts Wessex Water, Thames Water, Affinity Water, Southern Water and United Utilities among its clients in the water industry and is focused on building its reputation through Trant seeks total engineering offering innovation and technological prowess. Recent months have revealed an ambition to reach the next level, and Trant is optimistic that a partnership with SFC Umwelttechnik to use its advanced water and wastewater treatment technologies in the UK and Ireland will enhance its position a•er a contract was signed with the Austrian company late in 2017. In addition, it opened an offsite manufacture & assembly facility this year at its headquarters in Totton, near Southampton, joining the innovation design & solutions and automation, control & technology departments. Among its projects in 2017, Trant installed a new UV treatment facility at Farlington Water Treatment Works for Portsmouth Water, which involved detailed in-house design for the process, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation control and automation aspects, while Trant was also responsible for the civil, mechanical and electrical installation and commissioning. STONBURY Chawston House Chawston Lane Chawston Bedfordshire MK44 3BH Tel: 01234 750924 www.stonbury.com Soaring Stonbury continues to gain ground Stonbury has seen soaring business volumes in recent times, with a 43 per cent increase in turnover and 31 per cent growth in gross profits in 2016/17; the business also took on 49 new staff to reach a total headcount of 165. The contractor holds five- or 10-year framework contracts with 11 of the UK's largest water companies, covering over 75 per cent of the UK. "Our fantastic growth came from a clear focus on first-class customer service," Stonbury CEO James Stonor said. "During the year, we added three new frameworks to our already impressive roster of multi-year framework contracts that cover almost all of the water companies in England and Wales." Dedicated to the water industry, Stonbury specialises in the repair, refurbishment and maintenance of service reservoirs, water towers and associated structures, and also has a civil engineering arm. The company restructured itself in 2016/17 to adopt a regional model which is enabling it to manage its impressive levels of growth. As well as its refurbishment work, a number of new build schemes were completed during the year, including their first new service reservoir for South Staffordshire Water. Following the recent award of a new five-year contract with South East Water, Stonbury has announced its intention to open a new office in the south east of England, to complement its existing facility in Aldershot. The firm already carries out significant levels of work for Thames Water, Portsmouth Water and SES Water. It has recently invested in improvements to the Client Portal, its online tool that allows project information and progress to be easily shared between contractor and client. In August, Stonbury announced the acquisition of water maintenance specialists Kingcombe Aquacare, which will create a combined £30 million turnover company. THE NUMBERS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Sales £m 14.0 12.5 12.7 16.8 24.0 43 Gross profit £m 3.3 3.6 4.5 5.8 7.5 31 Operating profit £m 0.7 0.4 1.4 2.4 2.8 16 Pre-tax profit £m 0.7 0.4 1.4 2.4 0.4 -83 Staff 44 77 75 111 165 49 Net assets £m 1.7 1.0 0.7 1.8 1.3 -28 THE RATIOS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Return on capital % 42.8 36.5 214.7 132.1 30.2 -77 Gross margin % 23.7 28.8 35.3 34.2 31.4 -8 Operating margin % 5.1 3.3 11.4 14.4 11.7 -19 Net margin % 5.1 3.1 11.3 14.4 1.7 -88 Sales/employee £k 319.0 161.9 168.8 151.5 145.6 -4 THE NUMBERS 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % change Sales £m 67.3 79.4 84.2 78.4 105.4 34 Gross profit £m 7.4 7.3 6.5 6.8 7.0 3 Operating profit £m 0.965 0.8 1.3 1.8 1.7 -4 Pre-tax profit £m 0.854 0.6 1.3 1.6 1.6 -2 Staff 503 538 528 495 502 1 Net assets £m 5.5 5.3 6.2 7.2 7.8 9 THE RATIOS 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % change Return on capital % 15.4 11.3 21.6 22.5 20.4 -9 Gross margin % 11.0 9.1 7.8 8.7 6.7 -23 Operating margin % 1.4 1.0 1.5 2.2 1.6 -28 Net margin % 1.3 0.8 1.6 2.1 1.5 -27 Sales/employee £k 133.8 147.6 159.4 158.4 210.0 33

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