Lancashire construction consultant sees profits rise by almost a third

Building and construction consultancy The Driver Group saw a 28% increase in gross profit last year.

The company, which is based in Rossendale in Lancashire, enjoyed a 3% increase in revenue to £31.7m.

Gross profit was up by 28% resulting in a £1.4m increase to £8.9m.

Steve Norris, chairman of the Driver Group, said:”Driver has built on the turnaround of the group’s performance in the year ended 30 September 2017.

“The group has continued to deliver on the strategy laid out at the time of the refinancing last year, by producing profit growth and debt reduction.

“Along with the remedial actions taken last year to restore the business to profit and bring stability to the balance sheet, the group has concluded on the sale and leaseback of the head office property in April 2018 as promised at the time of the refinancing last year.

“Whilst the financial improvement is very pleasing we are of course far from complacent and we remain focused on delivering further profit growth and cash generation over the coming months and years.”

According to an interim report revenue for the first half of the financial year was £31.7m, an increase of 3% on the first half of 2017.

The group reported an underlying profit before tax of £2.1m.

During the six-month period to 31 March 2018 the headcount rose by 6.6% to 467 after adjusting for the effect of the business disposals during 2017.