Scottish builder has moved towards two-stage procurement environments

Pre-tax profit at contract hire and construction firm Ogilvie dropped 28% to £16.4m, the Scottish firm’s latest annual results show. 

The figure was significantly lower than the £22m recorded last year, despite a 17% increase in turnover in the year ended 30 June 2023. 

Duncan_with_Vans

Group chief executive Duncan Ogilvie

Oglivie registered income of £377m in the financial year, compared with £322m in its 2022 results. 

Its business is divided between contract hire of cars and light commercial vehicles, construction activity and homebuilding, with the former making up the lion’s share of income. 

The construction division accounted from £68m of turnover, down from £75.2m. Ogilvie said that business had incurred losses in the year from “exceptional inflationary pressures on materials and labour costs in the construction sector that had to be absorbed on long-term fixed term contracts with no route to recovery”. 

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It said these projects had now been completed and that the company had changed its approach to contract bidding from single stage competitive tendering and into environments where negotiation or two-stage tendering is the norm, such as procurement hubs and public frameworks. 

Ogilvie Homes sold 205 units in the year and currently holds the rights to 798 units with planning and option sites for 1500 units. 

Revenue from the sale of homes was up marginally from £49.7m to £50.2m.