Profits fall sharply at Willmott Dixon as firm eyes a zero carbon future

The firm has been working on the Danum Gallery, Library and Museum in Doncaster over the last 12 months

Turnover and profit at construction company Willmott Dixon have fallen after the firm’s annual performance was hit by the pandemic.

Revenue dropped from £1.25bn in 2019 to £1.19bn last year, while profit before tax fell sharply from £31.3m to £11.9m over the same period.

Despite this, bosses remain upbeat. Willmott Dixon says it had secured 83% of its budgeted work by March.

Chief executive Rick Willmott said: “While the events of 2020 were completely unforeseen, I was extremely proud at how well our people adjusted to the challenges created by the pandemic. By quickly adapting our projects to meet the requirements of the CLC’s Site Operating Procedures, we were able to continue building for our customers in a safe manner. However, it was not possible to avoid Covid-19 impacting financial performance, and the task in 2021 is to repair that as much as possible.”

Willmott added that he was “concerned” about a “rampant” cost inflation in the fixed price environment might erode the supply of chain of materials – which will delat project completions.

The firm has also announced a “Now of Never” plan to become a zero carbon business by 2030.

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