Firm has picked up a clutch of European orders after employing a dedicated director to expand into the region

22-Bishopsgate

Structural steel specialist Severfield has seen its profit jump by over 50% for the first half of its current financial year.

The contractor posted pre-tax profit of £11.5m, up from £7.4m, and a revenue increase of 16% to £137m for the six months to the end of September.

Severfield’s order book stands at £324m and includes several new European orders on the back of employing a dedicated European business director based in the Netherlands in May.

The projects include a large data centre and pharmaceutical facility in Ireland and another large data centre in Belgium.

Severfield is currently working on 80 projects in the UK, four of which in London have project revenues in excess of £20m – Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, Wimbledon’s retractable roof on No. 1 Court, 22 Bishopsgate (pictured) and another unnamed commercial head office building.

The 1,400-strong firm is also working on developer Sellar’s Shard Place in London Bridge, Southbank Place, and the Ordsall Chord railway bridges in Manchester and Ferrybridge Power Station.

Alan Dunsmore, acting chief executive at Severfield, said: “The UK market continues to appear stable and the pipeline for potential future orders remains good”.

He added that government policy was driving a “strong” pipeline of infrastructure projects where the firm sees opportunities over the next few years.

In India the firm reported that its joint venture continued to perform steadily and was profitable in the six months with a £79m order book and contributed resulting in a share of after tax profit for of £100,000, compared to the loss of £200,000 last year.

Severfield has also rolled out a new business venture to provide a “one stop shop” for steel fabricators who specialise in smaller projects to source processed steel and ancillary products.

The firm, which is to reorganise its factory operations near Thirsk in North Yorkshire to support this business venture, Severfield Products and Processing, said jobs would be affected by the changes, but that all affected employees had been offered a role within the company.

Severfield added that the venture would allow the firm to address smaller scale projects that it historically hasn’t focused on.

Discussions are still ongoing with stakeholders at the Cheesegrater over who is liable for the financial cost of the remedial works to the bolts on the building which completed during the year and total expenditure by Severfield is in line with provisions made in 2015, the firm said.

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