Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/971724
28 LEADERS 2018 THE LEADERS 2018 MORRISON UTILITY SERVICES Abel Smith House Gunnels Wood Road Stevenage Hertfordshire SG1 2ST Tel: 01438 743 744 www.morrisonus.com Morrison US remains on a high Morrison Utility Services (MUS), part of M Group Services, saw minor drops in operating and pre-tax profits for 2016/17, but the results come a year a-er the company reported record turnover and earnings. Gross profit is also now at a new high of £35.8 million, while there were rises in sales and net assets. MUS works with companies across electricity, gas and telecoms but the largest proportion of its clients are from the water sector: the company is currently working with Affinity Water, Yorkshire Water, Southern Water, Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, Scottish Water, Southern Water, Welsh Water and Anglian Water. Among its successful recent projects was the £10 million Dalmacoulter Resilience Scheme, which concluded in May 2017 and saw the installation of a large duplicate main in North Lanarkshire for Scottish Water as part of the Caledonia Water Alliance. The MUS smart meter installation team for Thames Water was also recognised with the Best Newcomer prize at the 2017 WOW! Awards. M Group Services has grown substantially in recent times. Since private equity investment firm First Reserve bought MUS in November 2016 and established the group, there has been a period of heavy investment. M Group Services, now a £1 billion turnover business, has acquired civil engineering and building contractor Dyer & Butler, meter reading firm Meter-U, telecoms infrastructure specialist Magdalene and most recently PMP Utilities, which delivers mechanical engineering support, asset surveys, innovative pipeline leakage repair and emergency and rescue standby operations. The company said that while markets remain very competitive, the "outlook for M Group Services is exciting", adding: "Our strong long-term order book is at a record level and provides a strong platform to further develop the business and deliver continued growth." THE NUMBERS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Sales £m 550.2 518.4 585.3 614.0 655.5 7 Gross profit £m 32.3 30.7 33.0 35.2 35.8 2 Operating profit £m 20.4 19.2 20.0 23.9 23.7 -1 Pre-tax profit £m 22.2 19.3 20.0 23.8 23.6 -1 Staff 3,352 3,618 3,666 3,882 3,970 2 Net assets £m 102.0 116.8 131.7 150.8 169.2 12 THE RATIOS 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 % change Return on capital % 21.7 16.5 15.1 15.8 14.0 -12 Gross margin % 5.9 5.9 5.6 5.7 5.5 -5 Operating margin % 3.7 3.7 3.4 3.9 3.6 -7 Net margin % 4.0 3.7 3.4 3.9 3.6 -7 Sales/employee £k 164.1 143.3 159.7 158.2 165.1 4