‘Resilient’ year for engineering services provider

Engineering and construction consultancy Driver Group has reported a ‘resilient’ year as revenues dipped slightly.

The Lancashire group reported revenues for the six months to 31 March 2022 was £24.4m, a 2.1% decrease compared to the same period in 2021.

Overall, the group reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £400,000, down from last year’s £1m.

Revenues in the EuAm (Europe & Americas) region increased slightly to £17.4m from £17.2m with revenues in the Middle East falling slightly to £5.4m from £5.7m in 2021 and revenues in APAC down to £1.7m from £2.1m.

The EuAm region delivered operating profits of £2.4m (2021: £2.5m) whilst the Middle East region recorded an operating loss of £0.3m (2021: £0.4m), and the APAC region recorded an operating loss of £0.5m (2021: £0.3m).

The board recommends the payment of an interim dividend of 0.75p per share for 2022.

The Rossendale group, which started an operational review of the business this year including scaling back some of its Middle Eastern operations, said it has not been immune to global economic uncertainty, including ‘the more challenging trading environment’ arising from the pandemic, and the impact that the war in Ukraine has had on some of its clients and their own counterparties, in relation to both work in hand and deferral of some existing pipeline.

However, it said the recent changes to the Middle East operations are expected to provide a “turning point” for the region and its future competitive positioning.

This revised approach will see the Group take on a smaller number of larger projects.

Steve Norris, Chairman of Driver Group, said: “I am pleased to report that the Company’s performance remains resilient with only a small decline in revenue and, in line with the Company’s Trading Update of 19 March 2022, an underlying* profit before tax of £400,000.

“In these circumstances, we believe that this has been a credible performance and has laid strong foundations to support future growth.”