NG Bailey back in black
YORKSHIRE-based NG Bailey has returned to profit after delivering a strong set of results against the “backdrop of the worst recession seen in construction.”
The Ilkley-based business, one of the UK’s largest independent engineering, IT and facilities services providers, reported underlying operating profit of £2.1m for the year to February 28 2014, compared with an underlying operating loss of £2m the year before.
NG Bailey saw a fall in group sales of 10% to £380m during the period but said this was largely due to the “continued challenges” in the traditional building construction sector and its decision to avoid high risk, low margin work.
David Hurcomb, NG Bailey’s chief executive, said: “This is a strong set of results achieved against the backdrop of the worst recession seen in construction, one which has been particularly severe for specialist contractors such as NG Bailey.
“This result is testament to the very high quality of our people and the significant investment in training – including in our renowned apprenticeship programme. We have continued to invest in training and in developing new growth sectors throughout the recession as we are confident this will deliver value in the long-term.”
Mr Hurcomb said the facilities services, IT and rail divisions performed particularly well which helped balance the overall result as other divisions, operating in the more traditional building construction sectors, were hit harder by the financial downturn.
He said: “We have worked very hard to achieve this result. Our balance sheet remains strong, net assets are up against the previous year, to £84m – almost all of which is in cash – and we have no borrowings.
“We are a well-balanced, profitable, business and we have successfully maintained strict cost controls, whilst still investing to ensure our long-term growth plan is achieved.”
Kevin Whiteman, NG Bailey’s chairman, added: “A very positive set of results, which further proves NG Bailey’s strength in the marketplace as a leader in its field.
“It also proves that our transformational diversification strategy is the right one, allowing us to better balance the business in the areas of traditional building construction, infrastructure and services.”
NG Bailey’s order book stands at around £600m and the company said it has a continuingly expanding customer base across multiple sectors including education, retail, power and industrial, financial services, energy, rail and utilities.
