Costain, Interserve and Sir Robert McAlpine have all declared themselves no longer interested in building waste-to-energy plants having lost money on various projects.
Clugston, in contrast, is restructuring in a bid to take on more work in the sector.
Privately-owned Clugston recorded an increase in revenue with sales exceeding £176m for the year ending 31st January 2018, the highest in the company’s 80-year history. However, it made a pre-tax loss of £469,000.
The loss was blamed on ‘supply chain challenges in some localised areas’ coupled with a couple of large contracts having their start delayed.
Despite this, Clugston has maintained a strong balance sheet with accumulated cash balances of £30m at the end of January 2018, no bank debt, and a strong forward order book.
The construction business has now been restructured into three profit centres, each with its own management: regional and national construction; facilities management; and energy, waste and renewables (EWR).
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Currently the EWR division has three major projects on site in Kent, North Wales and Avonmouth, as well as a strong pipeline of multi-million-pound projects across the UK.
Steve Radcliffe, managing director of Clugston Construction, will focus on developing the new EWR division, supported by Richard Greenwood and Jon Howsam, who have been appointed divisional construction director and commercial director respectively.
Rod Fry, a long-standing Clugston Construction director, has taken charge of the regional and national construction businesses, supported by Mike McCarthy as divisional commercial director.
Nick Blackstock, formerly of OCS, has been recruited to run the facilities management division.
Commenting on the financial results, chief executive Bob Vickers said: “Despite the challenging conditions in several of our key markets, together with investment in the restructuring, we have delivered another credible financial performance. With substantial growth in revenue, as well as accumulated cash balances of £30m and no bank debt, we continue to invest for the future and look to further develop our business by investing in our teams across all our divisions. Finally, whilst the markets in which we operate remain challenging and we believe this will remain so for the foreseeable future, I am sure that the restructuring we have undertaken, particularly within the construction area of our business, will create the focus and drive to enable us to continue to deliver successful projects and satisfy our customers and partners.”
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