After two years of strong growth, aided by acquisitions, contractor May Gurney is now focusing its attentions on profit margins rather than turnover.

Chairman Margaret Ford will tell the company’s annual general meeting today that the company is performing broadly in line with expectation, maintaining its order book at £1.5bn and that the strategy is “to pursue value over volume”.

Previously disclosed problems with the MaGOS (May Gurney Optimised Solution) refuse collection contracts with kerbside sorting are continuing, requiring “greater than planned resources to mobilise”.

Wet weather has also led to a proportion of May Gurney’s highways work being delayed, which will boost second half results at the expense of the interims.

Margaret Ford will tell shareholders: "The last year was extremely busy, as May Gurney has continued to grow in challenging market conditions. We completed a restructuring of our operations, secured a significant amount of new business and acquired TransLinc. After two years of strong growth, our focus now is on driving margins, integrating TransLinc, bedding-in our reorganisation and dealing with the operational issues referred to in our last announcement.

“Our strategy continues to target resilient, maintenance-focused revenue streams and to pursue value over volume, especially as our markets become increasingly competitive. Therefore, we will remain selective and focus on added value, innovation, collaborative working and customer service.”

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