WET News

14 LEADERS 2018 THE LEADERS 2018 COSTAIN Costain House Vanwall Business Park Maidenhead SL6 4UB Tel: 01628 842444 www.costain.com Publicly listed engineering solutions provider Costain has transformed its offering to UK water companies in recent years to place the emphasis on expert advisory services, invest- ment capability and mainte- nance and operations resources. This reflects regulatory trends in the industry for the consideration of Totex, whole-life cost and no-build solutions. One growing area is technology integration: it works with some of the UK's leading asset and data analytics organisations to analyse large volumes of real-time data to create greater benefits through optimised maintenance, pump operation, energy and chemical usage. It is part of a company-wide move to reposition itself from its construction background to being a "smart infrastructure solutions company". Still, its construction business remains strong and forms part of several large- scale delivery alliances and joint ventures on behalf of water companies, notably New vision reaps rewards at Costain United Utilities, Southern Water, Thames Water and Severn Trent. Significant projects include the Shieldhall Tunnel for Scottish Water, Peacehaven wastewater treatment works – Southern Water's biggest ever capital project – and the eastern section of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, the 'super sewer' being built for Thames Water. Turnover for the company was up by a quarter in 2016, with gross profits (up 14 per percent), operating profit (up 18 per cent) and pre-tax profit (19 per cent) also heading in the right direction. Results released ahead of the company's full accounts have also indicated that 2017 was another year of success for the contracting giant. "Costain has had another strong year," chief executive Andrew Wyllie said. "Our performance is a direct consequence of our differentiation and our ability to provide the rapidly changing range of integrated services required by our major clients." Costain's water sector director is Maxine Mayhew, who until last year was the commercial director of Northumbrian Water. CLANCY DOCWRA Clare House Coppermill Lane Harefield Middlesex UB9 6HZ Tel: 01895 823711 www.theclancygroup.co.uk Clancy Docwra diversifies amid large contract success Construction and multi-utility services provider Clancy Docwra continued to see organic growth in 2016/7, with turnover up 3 per cent to £267 million. The firm, part of the privately-owned Clancy Group, secured a £700 million order book for AMP6, serving 10 of the 22 water companies in the UK, and will be hoping to replicate that success in AMP7. The company's joint venture with Kier Group (KCD) forms part of the alliance to deliver £1 billion of work for Thames Water – the largest contract in water sector history. It is also currently operational in framework and term contracts with Sutton and East Surrey, Southern Water, South East Water, Anglian Water and Scottish Water. The company is diversifying from its traditional strength in water, which has underpinned the business since its formation in 1958, to energy and multi-utility services. While investing in these areas of growth has impacted group profits, the performance of the core water division remains strong. Brothers Kevin and Dermot Clancy are joint chairmen of the company, which is led by chief executive Seamus Keogh; other key figures include Matt Bailey (operations director), Matt Cannon (chief operating officer) and Tim Edwards (associate director). The medium-sized firm believes that it has the beating of some of its larger rivals when it comes to agile thinking and innovation; these credentials were boosted when a team of engineers, analysts and developers from Clancy Docwra and their so§ware partners Dootrix came up winners of the innovation prize at Northumbrian Water's Innovation Festival last summer, a§er a 'hackathon' event looking at data which could predict leakage. The firm is also known for its market-leading health and safety initiatives, which have been recognised with a number of industry awards. THE NUMBERS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Sales £m 232.7 262.4 278.5 258.0 266.8 3 Gross profit £m 11.2 14.0 17.8 14.8 12.9 -12 Operating profit £m 0.9 3.2 4.3 3.1 0.0 -99 Pre-tax profit £m 0.7 3.0 4.0 2.8 0.0 -99 Staff 1,793 1,786 2,078 2,150 2,270 6 Net assets £m 13.2 15.6 18.7 20.9 20.9 0 THE RATIOS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Return on capital % 5.1 19.3 21.4 13.4 0.1 -99 Gross margin % 4.8 5.3 6.4 5.7 4.9 -15 Operating margin % 0.4 1.2 1.5 1.2 0.0 -99 Net margin % 0.3 1.1 1.4 1.1 0.0 -99 Sales/employee £k 129.8 146.9 134.0 120.0 117.5 -2 THE NUMBERS 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % change Sales £m 848.4 885.2 1,071.8 1,263.6 1,573.7 25 Gross profit £m 54.2 58.5 60.2 66.7 76.0 14 Operating profit £m 18.3 19.1 23.5 29.6 34.9 18 Pre-tax profit £m 24.7 12.9 22.6 26.0 30.9 19 Staff 4,283 3,620 3,646 4,005 4,190 5 Net assets £m 31.8 43.3 110.8 120.6 99.6 -17 THE RATIOS 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % change Return on capital % 77.7 29.8 20.4 21.6 31.0 44 Gross margin % 6.4 6.6 5.6 5.3 4.8 -9 Operating margin % 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.2 -5 Net margin % 2.9 1.5 2.1 2.1 2.0 -5 Sales/employee £k 198.1 244.5 294.0 315.5 375.6 19

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