William Hare improves margins as profit jumps one third

The country’s second biggest steelwork contractor William Hare improved margins last year in its first set of accounts filed at Companies Houses under a new majority owner.

Sale Sharks co-owner Simon Orange, the entrepreneur older brother of former Take That singer Jason Orangebought a majority stake in the firm, set up in Bolton in 1888 by its eponymous founder, for an undisclosed sum last summer.

In its 2025 accounts, Hare said revenue was down 20% to £338m but pre-tax profit was up 29% to £40m. Cash at the bank and in hand at the year-end was down to £57m from £71m last time.

The firm said: “The versatility and the diversification that our global footprint provides us will also stand us in good stead as we enter more challenging conditions in the second half of 2026 and into 2027. There is a large, varied and exciting pipeline of opportunities both in the UK and across our key international markets.”

But it said jobs were taking longer to get going: “The economic and political volatility is creating some uncertainty around when projects will start. The current orderbook is well spread across many industry and geographic sectors.

“This underpins the capacity in 2026 and gives us sound footing as we look to secure some of the larger, multi-year projects that will be coming to the market in 2027.”

It said in-demand sectors included energy, data centres, infrastructure and stadia and added: “The London market remains active, although heavily impacted by on-going inflationary pressures and subdued, general economic outlook.”

Hare said the average number of employees at the business was up 6% to 2,350.