For the six months ended 30 June 2019 NMCN made a pre-tax profit of £3.5m (2018 H1: £2.5m) on revenue of £184.0m (2018 H1: £161.2). That is a 38% jump in profits and 14% revenue growth.
The improvement in profitability resulted in a better bank balance with cash at 30 June 2019 of £25.8m (2018 H1: £18.9m) even after further investment in the self-funded residential developments of £4.4m (H1 2018: £2.0m).
The current order book for completion in 2019 is valued at approximately £356m (2018 H1: £320m).
Chief executive John Homer said: “The first half of 2019 has been one of continued growth for the business across all sectors. We’ve seen significant increases across both revenue and operating profit along with a strong increase in our cash balances compared with the first half of last year.
“For the remainder of 2019 and into 2020 the outlook is also looking strong as we start work on several major contract wins. Amongst these is the first scheme to come from our place on the Highways England regional development partnership – a £28m scheme for junction improvements to the M621, due to start in 2020 following the completion of the design stage later this year.”
A return to profit of the telecoms business unit, following the impact of legacy contracts in previous periods, means that all NMCN business units are now making progress. For telecoms this has meant an operating profit of £500,000 in the first half of 2019.
The water business unit continues to perform strongly with a 17.5% half year revenue increase to £132.1m and a 14.2% operating profit increase to £3.0m in the first six months of 2019.
John Homer added: “These results demonstrate the continued progress made in the business against our strategic objectives. Our focus on profit improvement and cash generation continues to show returns… The outlook for future trading remains positive and provides the opportunity to maximise earnings from our operations. We are confident that the board's expectations will be achieved, with net margins slightly exceeding 2%."
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