Positive outlook for confident Renew
RENEW, the engineering services group, said today it is looking forward with confidence to further profitable growth.
Renew, which operates in UK infrastructure markets including working at the Sellafield nuclear power station and maintaining railway lines, said that in specialist engineering, a strong performance has been seen in all markets but particularly so in infrastructure where its rail business has been experiencing “record levels” of activity.
In the environmental market, Lewis, the water subsidiary based near Cardiff which was acquired in August, is performing ahead of expectations, the company said, as is Seymour, the water business in the North East.
In energy, revenue in nuclear has also been at record levels, according to the group.
Ahead of its annual general meeting today, Roy Harrison, chairman of the Leeds-based group, said: “Trading for the first quarter of the year has been strong and well ahead of the comparative position last year. The board expects this to continue through the second quarter of the financial year and, as a result, that the results for the year ending September 30 2014 to be much more evenly weighted between first and second half than hitherto.”
The group order book at December 31 2013 has strengthened by 27% to £433m (31 Dec 2012: £340m). The engineering services order book stood at £306m (31 Dec 2012: £245m), an increase of 25% over the comparative position last year.
“Reflecting the profitable trading, cash generation in the first quarter has also been strong. The group’s net cash position together with its strong order book enables the board to look forward with confidence to further profitable growth,” Renew said.
The board expects to give further guidance in its pre-close statement at the end of March, prior to the announcement of the interim results on May 20.
