Van Elle says continuing delays will hit profitability

Piling contractor Van Elle has again raised the impact of building safety delays for a continued drag on trading.

In a trading update this morning, the firm said revenue had failed to grow as expected in the opening months of its financial year to April 2026.

It said contract delays, especially those held up by schemes awaiting building safety sign-off, meant that “full-year trading and profitability [was] now expected to fall materially short of market forecasts”.

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Van Elle has previously said dozens of schemes have been held up getting building safety sign-offs

Announcing its annual results over the summer, the listed firm said revenue at its biggest business, general piling, was down by 19% to £46m which it blamed on building safety delays, especially in London.

Group turnover for the year to April 2025 was down 6% to £130.5m with pre-tax profit slumping one third to £4.6m.

Despite this morning’s warning, Van Elle said the medium-term outlook was “very positive”.

It said it will issue an update on interim trading in early December.

Last week, Vistry said it and L&Q had finally received gateway 2 approvals for a 336-home scheme in west London 13 months after putting in their first application to the building safety regulator.

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