Eric Wright Group hopeful of order pipeline
Lancashire-based property developer and construction group Eric Wright Group has seen its turnover and future pipeline of building contracts soar in the last year.
Reporting a turnover increase to £232million from £168million last year in the financial year to December 2023 the group said pre-tax profits would dip to £5.8m from £7m last year, but pointed to “strong underlying trading profit” of £7.5million, also down on 2022’s £11.9million.
The Group said it continues to generate stable returns from its property portfolio and other long-term investments including Local Improvement Finance Trusts (LIFT) and Private Finance Initiatives (PFI).
The company is active on the Animate scheme in the centre of Preston, which was awarded £20.9m from the Government’s national Towns Fund initiative in March 2021, alongside the Harris Quarter a unique part of the city centre undergoing a £200m investment programme to transform its historic buildings, sites and public realm into a diverse culture, leisure and employment offering.
Investment property yields have continued to soften as a result of market sentiment and rising interest rates resulting in a revaluation deficit of £1.66m, despite improvements in the underlying rental levels. The property portfolio now stands at £86.9m.
Speaking about the results, Gill Chadwick, Chief Financial Officer, commented: “The diversity of the Group’s core activities, together with its stable investment property portfolio, has continued to provide the Group with resilience and confidence. We are particularly encouraged by the pipeline across all of our contracting businesses and the construction company has performed particularly well in the year generating a convincing profit for the second consecutive year, signalling that the business is now well placed to continue to generate sustainable profits.”
Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Hartley said the group which is working on major schemes in Preston city centre, said it had “many reasons to be proud” of the results.
“Our long term relationships continue to underpin much of our businesses success and we would like to thank all our clients for their support and the talented people across our Group for their commitment and ingenuity in continuing to respond to the ongoing challenges of the economy and the many different sectors in which the Group operates.”
“Our order books for the coming year show further growth and our now well-established approach to risk management alongside robust strategies for measured growth positions the Group extremely well to achieve continued trading stability and consistently strong financial returns moving forward.
“These returns also enable the Group and the Eric Wright Charitable Trust to continue to work in partnership to support delivery of the charitable objectives across our region, making real improvements to peoples’ lives and the local communities in which they live and work.”
