Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
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THE LEADERS 2018 Mott Macdonald enjoys platform for growth Pre-tax profit £M Mott MacDonald 47.0 Morgan Sindall 43.9 Costain 30.9 Kier Group 25.8 Skanska UK 23.6 Morrison Utility Services 23.6 J. Murphy & Sons 23.3 Bam Nuttall 14.3 Mace 10.7 Stantec 8.6 M ott MacDonald Group's pre-tax profit on ordinary activities fell by 7 per cent to £64.3 million in the year to 31 December 2016. But a £47 million pre-tax profit for Mott Macdonald Ltd – the main trading company of the group – was still enough to be the biggest in the Leaders database. Gross revenue was up marginally to £1.4 billion at the firm, which works as an engineering, management and develop- ment consultancy across a range of infra- structure sectors. Europe and Africa represented 61 per cent of the group's revenue. Mott Mac- Donald said all UK sectors delivered "good profits" except transportation and international development. Its annual report added: "The UK busi- ness continued to benefit from the gov- ernment's pursuit of infrastructure pro- jects as an engine for economic growth. The regulated asset-based industries, par- ticularly water, also provided opportunity as clients continued delivery of their investment programmes." Mott Macdonald played a key role in designing the Lee Tunnel for Thames Water – a flagship project for which it won a number of awards – while it was also lead designer for the £21 million Sheffield Lower Don Valley flood defence project, which completed earlier this year. The firm provided civil, structural and geotechnical engineering services on the scheme for Sheffield City Council and the Mott Macdonald 10 Fleet Place, London EC4M 7RB. Tel: 020 7651 0300. www.mottmac.com Environment Agency. In partnership with Bam Nuttall, Mott MacDonald will deliver the £100 million Boston Barrier, which was approved by environment secretary Michael Gove just before Christmas. A flood alleviation scheme in Leeds – delivered by the same joint venture of Bam Nuttall and Mott MacDonald – opened last autumn. Mott MacDonald is managing a data project called Linking Innovation To Soci- etal Needs for UK Water Industry Research and UK Water Partnership. This is designed to become a primary source of data on new ideas, solutions and tech- nologies accessible to UKWIR members. The company is one of four construc- tion delivery partners that is helping deliver United Utilities' AMP6 capital pro- gramme, with the expectation that the arrangement will be continued in AMP7. It is also a member of Anglian Water's Integrated Main Works Capital Alliance, while the company's other key clients in the current AMP period include Severn Trent Water and Yorkshire Water. Mott Macdonald is employee-owned, a status that the company says frees up its decision-making to choose the work it takes on and focus on what matters most. Without external shareholders to keep happy, it describes itself as "independent in thought and action". One benefit of this is its employee retention rate, which stands at over 90 per cent for senior staff. Since being formed in 1989, Mott Mac- donald has expanded both organically and through a series of acquisitions, the most recent of which was the takeover of Bentley in 2014. The move was a natural one a£er the long established co-opera- tion of the two firms in the joint venture Mott Macdonald Bentley (MMB). At the time of the deal over 80% of Bentley's business was derived through MMB, which was specifically set up to deliver long-term, high volume pro- grammes of projects for the UK's water companies throughout the industry's five- year Asset Management Plan (AMPs). Managing director Mike Haigh said in Mott MacDonald's annual report pub- lished last year that its geographic and sectoral diversity provided "a platform for growth". LEADERS 2018 29 THE NUMBERS 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % change Sales £m 526.9 547.4 579.3 642.6 675.1 5 Gross profit £m 192.1 209.8 223.3 251.8 257.4 2 Operating profit £m 18.4 12.4 28.0 36.0 35.4 -2 Pre-tax profit £m 32.0 22.6 36.7 40.7 47.0 15 Staff 5,494 5,651 6,086 6,401 6,612 3 Net assets £m 319.7 327.0 309.3 307.9 313.3 2 THE RATIOS 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % change Return on capital % 10.0 6.9 11.9 13.2 15.0 13 Gross margin % 36.4 38.3 38.5 39.2 38.1 -3 Operating margin % 3.5 2.3 4.8 5.6 5.3 -6 Net margin % 6.1 4.1 6.3 6.3 7.0 10 Sales/employee £k 95.9 96.9 95.2 100.4 102.1 2 Managing director Mike Haigh