£2bn forward order book a boost for Willmott Dixon

CONTRACTOR Willmott Dixon has reported a pre-tax profit of £16.2m for the financial year ending 31st December 2013.

The company, which has a regional office in Birmingham and employs almost 800 staff in the Midlands, saw turnover across its capital works, regeneration and support services divisions fall slightly from £1.03bn in 2012 to £1.02bn in 2013.

Its gross profit margin increased from 8.4% to 8.5%.

As at March, Willmott Dixon had a secured forward order book of £2.05bn, with 91% of the group’s budgeted work already secured for the year.

Turnover for Willmott Dixon’s capital works division, the main construction arm of the company, fell fractionally to £899m over the year, down from £904m in 2012.

Last year, Willmott Dixon completed projects with a total turnover value of just under £110m across the Midlands and has already secured more than £160m for 2014 and almost 90% of its target for 2015.

Peter Owen, managing director of Willmott Dixon Construction, Midlands, said: “We are continuing to strengthen our presence in the higher and further education sectors having secured a number of major projects, including phase two of Birmingham City University’s £180m estate masterplan, the University of Birmingham’s new £19m training school, and being appointed by the University of Leicester to build the UK’s largest non-residential Passivhaus project, the University’s College of Medicine.

“Local authority procurement frameworks, such as SCAPE and Construction West Midlands (CWM), continue to be an important source of work, with Willmott Dixon Construction in the Midlands currently working on more than £100m worth of projects awarded through various frameworks.”