Willmott Dixon has credited its 14% increase in revenue and profits in 2017 to its concentration on contracting and separation of non-core activities
The privately owned construction group reported a £35.5m profit before tax and amortisation for the year, compared to £31.1m the previous year.
Turnover also rose from £1.22bn in 2016, to £1.3bn in 2017.
The results follow a demerger at the start of 2017 of Willmott Dixon’s development arm Be Living and property services division Fortem.
The company also revealed a secured and probable forward order book of £1.6bn (at May 2018).
Group chief executive Rick Willmott said: “Since Willmott Dixon demerged Be Living and Fortem at the beginning of 2017, we’ve made great progress in our strategy to focus solely on our primary capability of being a constructor of choice for our customers. This is especially the case as we can provide access to procurement routes and solutions tailored to meet their needs for value and efficiency.
“The move to focus on our core business of construction and fit-out is consistent with what I think will be a general trend towards de-layering and simplification of business models in the construction sector. We have chosen to clearly structure our business around core competency, working with customers to ensure we deliver not only great capital projects but also social value and community benefit working through the best supply chain partners.”
The company has recently been awarded the sole contractor for Places for People’s new Major Projects Framework which is worth a potential £2.5bn over four years.
Meanwhile, Rick Willmott reaffirmed the firm’s aim to achieve gender parity by 2030, confirming that 38% of its management trainee intake in 2017 were female.
