Wolverhampton-based Carillion achieves fantastic growth

Profits for Wolverhampton-based construction and support services group Carillion grew by nine per cent for the year to the end of December.

The pre-tax profit of £155.1 million was on group revenue that was also up by 13 per cent to £4.58 billion.

The full year dividend for Carillion has been increased by three per cent from 17.75p to 18.25p.

The group said it had considerable financial strength with £1.4bn of funding available to support its strategy for growth.

It won new orders and has probable orders worth £3.7bn reflecting the impact in the first half of the UK General Election, with £2.7bn secured in the second half of the year.

The total value of secured and probable orders remains strong at £17.4bn and it has been awarded framework agreements worth over £2bn, which are not yet included in the order book or in probable orders, but will give further revenue growth opportunities.

Carillion chief executive Richard Howson said that the revenue growth was "fantastic" and had come after five years of planned revenue decline in the Uk construction business.

It won four major public private partnership projects in 2015 including the more than £300m Midland Metropolitan Hospital contract in Smethwick.

He said that that along with the Midlands Priority Schools project would help boost employment in the West Midlands.

Carillion, which employs 400 at its new head office in Salop Street and has a major training base in Stourbridge, is also carrying out the major Paradise Circus building project in Birmingham city centre for Argent.

Across the world Carillion increased its numbers by 4,000 last year and now employs around 46,000 people across the UK, in the Middle East and Canada.

"This year was the 15th of uninterrupted dividend growth since Carillion was formed in 1999," added Mr Howson.

"Over the last few years as we have come out of the credit crunch and recession and through the oil price reduction, we have re-positioned for growth in different support services markets in Canada and the UK, which have dominated revenue, and in the Middle East are a primarily construction-led business," he added.

Mr Howson said that by the end of 2015, orders accounted for 84 per cent of this year's budget and by this month it was up to just under 90 per cent.

"It means we known we are going to have revenue growth again in 2016," he added.

Carillion chairman Philip Green said: "Our performance in 2015 reflects the benefits of our consistent and successful strategy, which enabled us to re-scale and re-position our business during the economic downturn in order to take advantage of opportunities for growth as market conditions improve.

"Growth in revenue, underlying profit before taxation and earnings per share was primarily organic, following the successful mobilisation of a number of major new contracts, supplemented by two bolt-on acquisitions, the Rokstad Corporation and the Outland Group, which have significantly enhanced our support services business in Canada.

"With a strong, high-quality order book, a large and growing pipeline of contract opportunities and the financial strength to support our strategy for growth, the group is well positioned to make further progress in 2016."