Mixed bag of results for construction giant Morgan Sindall

CONSTRUCTION group Morgan Sindall has produced mixed results for the first half of the year, with revenue on the up, while profits took a significant dip.

For the half year to June 30, the group suffered a 6% fall in pre-tax profits to £13.3m which the firm put down to “challenging market conditions”

Operating profits of £15.5m were up £300,000 on last year, and revenues reached £1.15bn, up from £998m on last year, with a static pipeline of £3.2bn.

Three companies sit under the group’s umbrella; Morgan Sindall Construction Infrastructure, regeneration specialist Lovell, and Muse Developments contributed to their parent company’s results.

The firm is on site and close to handing over The University of York’s £9.9m Environment building. The firm’s Leeds office was appointed by Spire Healthcare to build a new hospital in Nottinghamshire as part of a £60m investment.

Lovell, which is working on an £11.8m residential development in Skipton, a £20m home improvement programme, as well as A £4.6m homes development in Doncaster for sister company Muse Developments.

Muse itself is working on an 80,000 sq ft speculative industrial build at logistics development Logic Leeds.

Chief executive, John Morgan said: “We’ve seen a strong performance from Fit Out in the first half and Urban Regeneration continues to deliver good growth as a result of our focused and long-term investment in the development portfolio.

“Construction & Infrastructure continues to be impacted by the poor performance of its older and lower margin construction contracts in London and the South and, whilst these are working through to completion, this is happening at a slower rate than previously anticipated which will hold back the divisional performance in the second half of the year. “