North Midland revenue and profits up

North Midland Construction has posted revenue and profits growth, but has announced its building services division is up for review.

The building division suffered a loss of £570,000 last year and missed its budgeted revenue target by 37%, posting turnover of £22m.

North Midland said it has begun a cost-cutting programme at the division and was implementing a revised marketing strategy.

Revenue across the group as a whole increased by 14.1% to £164.5m and pre-tax profit rose by 17.9% to £3.71m.

Robert Moyle, chairman, said: “It is very gratifying to report a result both in excess of the forecast and that of the previous year, in spite of both the challenging economic climate and the severe weather conditions experienced at both the start and the end of the year.”

The firm’s utility and highways divisions posted strong performances, with revenue up 32.2% to £40.2m and 32.3% to £13.5m respectively.

North Midland said: “Margins remain positive, but at an extremely low level, and this coupled with the low revenue has contributed to the loss. A thorough review of the business has now been undertaken and further overhead reduction instigated along with a revised marketing strategy.”

The contractor said it is awaiting the outcome of an appeal against an OFT fine imposed for cover pricing.

The firm said: “The first tranche of appeal decisions have just been announced and it would be presumptuous to assume that they will be replicated across the full range of appellants, but they do display significant reductions in the overall fines.”