Building services group issues trading update ahead of full year results

Building services group T Clarke has announced it has already secured more than half of this year’s required forward orders.

In a trading update released today ahead of its preliminary results for the year released in March, T Clarke said that “despite continued challenges”, trading for the year remains in line with the board’s expectations.

The firm said that its forward order book stood at £190m at the end of 2011, up from £187m in November.

One of T Clarke’s biggest wins last year was the Land Securities and Canary Wharf Group-developed Walkie Talkie tower, the 160m-high central London skyscraper designed by Rafael Vinoly.

Last August, T Clarke talked of the “immense pressure” on margins despite its project wins and announced that pre-tax profit had more than halved despite rising turnover in the first half of the year.

Back then, the firm reported pre-tax profit of £1.4m, down from £3.2m for the same period last year, on revenue up 8% to £92.6m.

Other significant wins for T Clarke in recent months include 17-storey London Bridge building The Place and landmark building in Redcar, the Vertical Pier.