Steel work strengthens Billington Holdings
STRUCTURAL steel and engineering group Billington Holdings said profits had increased by almost a third and revealed its order book would take the company through into 2009.
The Barnsley-based company, which changed its name from Amco Corporation following the sale of part of its business to management backed by Yorkshire fund Endless earlier this year, saw pre-tax profits for the six months ended June 30 rise to £2.32m from £1.76m.
The group’s structural steel activities returned operating profits of £2.6m compared with £2.2m for the same period last year, which the company said was broadly in line with expectations.
Specialist engineering showed an operating loss of £339,000 for the period.
However this was set against a loss of £661,000 for the same period last year Peter Hems, executive chairman of Billington Holdings, said: “We are delighted that the group’s restructuring has returned such favourable results in the past six months.
“The core businesses which we have chosen to focus on have profited from our emphasis on the public sector and in health and safety equipment. We are confident that the alteration in the business is already beginning to show a long term growth pattern.
“The state of the UK economy and the construction sector in particular is a cause for some concern for us and for our competitors. However, Billington is in an excellent position to deliver shareholder value with a strong balance sheet and being one of the leading structural steel specialists in the UK.
“Our order book stands at £55m which will see us through 2008 and well into 2009.”
Following the Endless deal, the group is now concentrating on structural steelwork through its Billington Structures business in Wombwell, Barnsley which is supplying projects ranging from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford upon Avon to a range of education projects including the new East Riding College.
Billington Holdings also owns Easi-edge, which provides safety equipment to the construction industry, and Dosco Overseas Engineering, which supplies mining machinery for a worldwide customer base.
Endless backed the management buyout of four businesses with turnover of £100m employing 800 people from Yorkshire quoted company Amco Corporation.
The move saw Leeds-based Endless buying the construction, manufacturing and property investment and development businesses for £9.4m of the former Wakefield-based group Amco which retained its sructural steel business as well as its engineering operations.
Billington Holdings has proposed an interim dividend of 3.75p per share, up from 3.5p.
