Russells’ financial year runs to the end of June. It says that the first half of FY 2022 (i.e. July-Dec 2021) was the busiest period in its 25-year history, completing £165m worth of projects.
But in the second half – between January and June 2022 – it saw £150m of anticipated starts put on hold as the economy faltered amid the fall-out of the invasion of Ukraine.
“Reassuringly, however, several of those delayed projects are now making significant progress and are expected to generate turnover in the 2023 year,” said financial director Lee Downs in the company’s annual report.
“As the company marks its 25th anniversary, we expect the order book to recover significantly over the next 12-24 months. The forward pipeline is extremely positive and over the last 12 months Russells has been asked to deliver more pre-qualification questionnaires, bids and tenders than at any time in the company’s history,” he continued. “The team is currently awaiting decisions on more than £250m of tendered contracts.”
With turnover down by two-thirds in the year to 30th June 2022, pre-tax profit fell to £2.5m, down from £8.0m the previous year – “a significant achievement when reviewing the current marketplace,” said the financial director, “and in excess of many of our immediate competitors”.
Russells Construction was established in 1997 in Manchester by Andrew and Gareth Russell. In 2018 they sold a majority share to South Africa’s biggest construction business, Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon Limited (WBHO) and trades as Russell WBHO.
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