£1.3bn order wins help Carillion off to a strong start in 2017
Wolverhampton construction and support services group, Carillion has made an encouraging start to the current year, boosted by a series of contract wins, its chief executive has told shareholders.
Addressing the group’s AGM, Richard Howson, said the probable orders were worth approximately £1.3bn, which has increased revenue visibility for 2017 to more than 85%.
The positive message helped boost what was otherwise a relatively featureless statement.
Mr Howson told the meeting: “Trading conditions across the group’s markets have remained largely unchanged since we announced our 2016 full-year results in March.
“Consequently, we continue to focus on the priorities we set out when we announced our 2016 results, namely to accelerate the rebalancing of our business into markets and sectors where we can achieve our objectives for margins and cash flows; and to manage challenging contract positions, particularly in our international markets, as these are key to achieving our objective of reducing average net borrowing.
“We have made an encouraging start to the year in terms of winning new business in our chosen markets, with new orders and probable orders worth approximately £1.3bn, which has increased revenue visibility for 2017 to over 85%.”
So far this year, the group, currently constructing the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Smethwick, has been chosen as preferred bidder for a new £75m student accommodation scheme at the University of Manchester and secured a £200m joint venture contract from the Ministry of Defence to deliver a range of soft facilities management services for 87 key Defence sites across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire and Central and Greater London.
