Galliford Try revises up full-year expectations as chief executive hails ‘spectacular’ workloads

An upbeat Galliford Try has said it will beat expectations for the full year after the firm saw profit rise more than 20% in the first half.

Pre-tax profit was up 21.5% to £24m in the six months to December last year on turnover flat at £935m.

The firm said its order books for its 2027 and 2028 financial years were filling up fast and chief executive Bill Hocking admitted: “I’ve never seen a market like it in my career. Already 2027 and 28 are looking very, very good.

“It’s absolutely spectacular. The key thing is not to bite off more than you can chew, that’s a recipe for disaster.”

He said much remained to be done to repair the country’s socio-economic infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals. “Everywhere I go, I see a massive amount of work that needs doing.”

The firm said it did not bid for the recently announced New Hospital Programme framework because it prefers to carry out smaller jobs in the sector rather than new hospital builds. “We’ve seen in the past that those can be challenging,” Hocking added.

The firm’s average month-end net cash for the period was £176m.

It added that at the end of last month it paid £10m for fire protection business Nene Valley Fire & Acoustic which it said “will enhance our existing specialist fire businesses and accelerate our progress in this high margin growth sector”.