Galliford Try margins up as firm stays on track for 2030 target

Galliford Try turned in another set of improved annual figures with the firm saying it is on track to hit near term margin and turnover targets.

The firm said revenue in the year to June was up 3% to £1.93bn with pre-tax profit rising a quarter to £55m with operating margins rising from 3% to 3.5%.

Galliford Try has said it wants income to be at least £2.2bn by 2030 with operating margins of 4%.

The firm said its average month-end net cash was up 23% to £216m and chief executive Bill Hocking said: “a good balance sheet is really important. We’re getting onto frameworks because of our balance sheet.”

Its building business saw turnover slip 1% to £951 but adjusted operating profit was up 18% to £33m.

A strong year in road building helped by dry weather saw income at its infrastructure business rise 8% to £972m with adjusted operating profit up a quarter to £34m.

Hocking said that its affordable housing business, which it re-entered in 2023, was “18 months to two years behind where we thought it would be” because of planning delays, the impact of meeting fire safety regulations and their impact on viability.

But he said he expected the market to speed up with the gateway approvals process speeding up and last month’s announcement by the government of the first £10bn wave of funding from its £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

Year-end cash was up 9% to £259m with the firm’s order book ticking up 5% to £4.3bn.