Profits rise for Lancashire construction group despite effects of pandemic

The construction firm, which recently worked on the replacement of the Storm Desmond-hit Pooley Bridge and the £8m Multi-ply carbon fibre manufacturing facility in Blackpool, unveiled its 2020 financial results with a profit before tax of £9.5m, up from £6.159 in 2019.

The firm said that while overall turnover across the group decreased from £223.2m to £204.6m, gross profit increased from £14.8m up to £17.3m, driven by the continued growth of the residential business, the elimination of two loss making construction contracts in the prior year and a resilient performance from all businesses across the group amid the effects of coronavirus.

Eric Wright said its investment property portfolio performed well despite the pandemic and its efforts to work alongside and support tenants across all sectors has helped ensure the maintenance of overall property values, with the portfolio ending the year at a value of £75.9m.

In 2020 the group also successfully secured places in a number of key frameworks and continued to focus on nurturing and supporting existing client relationships, collaborating to bring experience and expertise to the broad range of clients which underpin its workstreams.

Gill Chadwick, group finance director, said: “2020 was an extremely challenging year for many and we are pleased to report these results. We continue to benefit from the core stability and the diversity of our principal activities, with a strong balance sheet supported by long term investments and careful cash flow management.”

Group managing director, Jeremy Hartley said: “The strength of our underlying business and the commitment and determination of all our staff has enabled us to trade though the pandemic and look to the future with a cautious optimism.

"During this extremely difficult time for many businesses, we have continued to work closely with our partners and supply chain to support them in any way we could. This approach enabled us to successfully deliver a number of key projects on time across a range of sectors including residential, education, health, leisure, industrial, water and civil engineering.

“At the same time, we have invested in our people, ensuring their health and wellbeing remain at the forefront of our thinking whilst creating an environment which enables them

to adapt to the changes in working patterns that many of us have experienced.

"We believe that in the medium to long term, many of these changes will be of benefit both to the business and our staff alike as we all adapt to the post Covid world."