Second staircase delays hit Higgins’ income as remediation costs send firm further into red

Family-owned contractor Higgins has said delays on schemes because of second staircase rules sent turnover tumbling last year as the firm slumped further into the red because of the cost of building remediation work.

The Essex-based firm said delays had meant it had pared back its workforce with £1.2m spent on restructuring in the year to July 2023 while it has made a further provision of £13.5m for post-Grenfell remediation work on top of the £5.5m it booked the year before.

It added: “Where appropriate, recovery will be vigorously pursued from the supply chain or through insurance claims.”

Higgins said profitability had also been hit by “significant build cost inflation” with the impact of all these issues meaning pre-tax losses widened from £5.4m to nearly £26m. Turnover was down 20% to £172m.

The firm said a rejig at its partnerships business last year had “result[ed] in a significant improvement in operational efficiency”. A reshuffle of the business last summer also saw a new group of the Higgins family move into the top roles.

Brothers Richard Higgins, group chairman, and Martin Higgins, group director, are due to retire later this year ahead of which Richard’s sons Declan Higgins has become chief executive and Dominic Higgins become chief operating officer. Martin’s son William Higgins has been appointed group executive director.