City briefs; Goodwin, Hill & Smith

Engineering services firm Goodwin has revealed a pre-tax profit of £17.2m (2021: £16.5m) and revenue of £144m (2021: £131m).

This 4% increase in profit they say is despite the group having to contend with £3.8m of additional energy costs versus the prior year.

Goodwin said that its trading profit pre-tax is less the impact of its £2.74m interest rate valuation.

The board said the £2.74m relates to the valuation of its £30m debt interest rate swap derivative, that expires in August 2031, whereby the group has fixed its interest rate for ten years at less than 1% for the full term.

In addition, it said that it feels “this derivative is an effective hedge and should not go through the profit and loss account. 

“ The Board’s view was that it was highly probable that we would still have 25% gearing in ten years’ time, having secured the interest rate swap to fix interest rates at less than 1% on £30 million debt for this period. 

“Our auditor was unconvinced that it could meet the highly probable criteria and that other requirements under IFRS9 for hedge accounting were not met”.

Solihull-based transport infrastructure firm Hill & Smith has seen a 9% increase in revenue in the first half of the year.

Reporting revenues of £349.9m (H1 2021: £313.6m) the firm says this highlights the resilience of its chosen long term end markets and the benefits of its autonomous operating model.

Hill & Smith say it has implemented pricing actions in an effort to recover input cost inflation and are confident they can manage this for the remainder of the year.

Alan Giddins, Executive Chair of Hill & Smith said: “The Group has had a good first half.  We have also continued to make progress on exiting some of our lower growth portfolio businesses. Looking forward, our aim is to accelerate progress and growth.

“While we are mindful of current macroeconomic uncertainty, the Group is exposed to strong structural growth markets and, with a proven track record of resilience, is well positioned to deliver against our strategic goals.”