Interim results for the period ended 30 September 2020

Highlights

• Revenue up 40% to £186.0m (H1 2019: £131.7m)

• Underlying* profit before tax up 3% to £8.4m (H1 2019: £8.2m), despite the impact of COVID-19
• Good cash generation resulting in period-end net funds (excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities**) of £19.5m (31 March 2020: £16.4m), including the outstanding acquisition loan of £10.5m for Harry Peers
• Interim dividend of 1.1p per share (H1 2019: 1.1p per share), reflects our confidence in the outlook and our strong balance sheet and cash position
• Over 80 projects undertaken during the period in the UK, Ireland and continental Europe in diverse market sectors including industrial and distribution, data centres, nuclear and commercial offices
• UK and Europe order book of £287m at 1 November 2020 (1 June 2020: £271m), includes new nuclear orders secured by Harry Peers
• Share of loss from Indian joint venture (‘JSSL’) of £0.7m (H1 2019: profit of £1.3m), reflecting the impact of COVID-19
• India order book of £98m at 1 November 2020 (1 June 2020: £110m)

COVID-19

• UK and Europe – factories are fully operational, all construction sites are open, underlying operations are performing well
• Tendering and pipeline activity remain very encouraging despite more competitive pricing and some client investment decisions taking longer than normal
• Additional resilience provided by our market sector, geographical and client diversity
• India – opening up of the economy from lockdown is progressing slowly, well placed to win more work once improved market clarity returns
• Strong balance sheet and cash position, sufficient committed funding in place until 2023 and cash generative business model
• Improved visibility of second half and full year outturn – any disruption related to the new UK lockdown restrictions is not expected to be material to FY21 profitability
• Optimistic in our outlook beyond FY21 – based on order book strength, encouraging pipeline, strong balance sheet position, expertise in managing complex projects and long-standing client relationships

Alan Dunsmore, Chief Executive Officer commented:

‘The resilience provided by our market sector, geographical and client diversity, together with the actions that we have taken to date have enabled us to navigate well through the challenging conditions of COVID-19. This has resulted in a strong operational performance in the first half of the year.

We have a strong balance sheet, good visibility of future earnings from our order books and pipelines, and a strong reputation for delivery of complex projects for our long-standing clients.

There is now greater clarity of the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on the current year’s performance and, on the assumption of no further significant business interruptions arising from any widespread and prolonged secondary lockdown, we expect to improve upon our first half profitability in the second half of the financial year.’

The full announcement can be found on our RNS.