Redhall re-brand reaps rewards
A SUCCESSFUL re-branding of the business and major contract wins have helped boost Redhall Group’s pre-tax profits.
The Wakefield-based specialist engineering support services group said that profits before tax rose 6% for the six months ended March 31 from £3.1m to £3.3m.
Revenue for the period increased to £65.4m compared to £64.8m for the first half of 2009.
Redhall said its order book now stands at £130m – a like-for-like rise of £20m.
David Jackson, chairman of Redhall, said: “We are pleased with the group’s performance in the first half of the current financial year, which demonstrates that the business has retained its ability to deliver through a testing time in our markets.
“We believe that the ever strengthening Redhall brand will assist us in growing our business across our target markets as economic conditions improve.”
Among its contract wins is a £30m bioethanol project for Vivergo at Saltend, on which work has now started.
However, in civil nuclear,market conditions remain subdued as the letting of work and its execution has been slow.
Redhall said progress was made in the first half in improving order intake with contract wins at Sellafield, Bradwell, Hunterston and Berkeley totalling £10m.
Oil and gas has seen positive trading in both specialist manufacturing for upstream oil and gas and downstream engineering services projects.
During the period firm group won significant term contracts with Chevron and Ineos for oil tank build and refurbishment.
But it is the group’s engineering services to the Ministry of Defence, which has proved one of its strongest performers with an increase in trading resulting in a 34% rise in adjusted operating profits to £1.1m on reduced revenues of £12.3m.
The group also announced the appointment of Jim Carrick as a non-executive director.
Mr Carrick previously worked for seven years in a senior capacity for Washington Group International, now URS Corporation, predominantly in the energy, defence, infrastructure and nuclear waste management sectors.
Prior to that, he had a long and successful career in ICI mainly in manufacturing and engineering.
He is a chartered engineer with a broad technical and management background and played a significant role in Washington Group’s expansion into the UK and Europe.
