Archial builds success
ARCHITECTS and design group the Archial Group, which has an operation in Yorkshire, has moved its profits into the black following a company restructure and rebranding.
Archial’s pre-tax profits for the year ended December 31 were £1.5m compared to a loss of £5.2m last time.
Revenues dipped from £44.2m to £42.5m while earnings before interest, tax and depreciation increased by 25% to £6.5m.
Project wins in Archial’s northern division, which includes its Leeds office, included Morrisons supermarket projects and the refurbishment of an 80,000 sq ft premises in Manchester.
Archial was rebranded from The SMC Group last December and has made £4.7m of annualised cost savings since January 2008.
Chris Littlemore, chief executive of Archial, said: “Over the last year, the business has been restructured and we have installed harmonised systems and processes across the group to help us focus on design excellence, outstanding service and lasting value for our clients.
“We have removed considerable cost and risk from the business allowing our architects to concentrate on high quality architectural design and service to our client base.
“The current economic climate is clearly challenging however we have strong future instruction and visibility as well as opportunities to create further efficiencies.”
The group’s northern region includes Leeds-based practice SMC Gower; Warwick-based practice SMC Corstorphine & Wright; Birmingham and Newcastle’s SMC Parr; and Liverpool and Manchester’s SMC DTR:UK, which are all now known as Archial Architects.
