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Fri March 29 2024

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May Gurney says recovery plans are on track

4 Dec 12 May Gurney has booked a first-half loss before tax of £3.6m, after taking an extra £10m hit on the closure of its facility services business.

Chairman Baroness Ford
Chairman Baroness Ford

However, it says that it has now set the business on the path to recovery after recent turmoil.

For the six months to 30 September 2012, May Gurney generated first half revenues up 4% to £338.9m (2011 H1: £324.7m).

After bidding and mobilisation costs were written off, underlying EBITA of £12.6m (2011 H1: £14.7m), achieving an operating margin of 3.7% (2011 H1: 4.5%).

Group operating profit before amortisation and non-recurring costs was £2.6m, down from £15.0m for the same period last year.

In October, interim CEO Willie MacDiarmid said that the company had now ‘ring-fenced’ the operational problems that had led to the shock departure of his predecessor Philip Fellowes-Prynne the previous month. Actually eliminating the problems will take rather longer, however.

Commenting on the latest results, chairman Margaret Ford said: "May Gurney's first-half performance was in line with our revised expectations.  We have taken steps to reinforce commercial disciplines and the plans we put in place to address the operational issues we announced in September are on track. As expected, the process to resolve the two MaGOS environmental services contracts is complex, and will continue well into next year.

 "We continue to target resilient, maintenance-focused revenue streams for essential services by developing long-term relationships with our clients and local communities. Our strong commercial market positions are reflected by the fact that we have secured more than £314m of business in the first-half. Our forward order book has been maintained at £1.5bn, with a further £1.7bn in potential contract extensions, and our bidding pipeline stands at c.£4bn".

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MPU
MPU

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