A LEADING building and housing group has reported a 10% rise in profits, a 5% increase in revenue and an order book of £10.2 billion in its full-year results.
Kier Group – parent company of Kier Construction Scotland – said a solid performance and steady workflow from its Scottish operation had contributed to its success over the past year, which saw profits rise to £160 million and revenues to £4.5bn.
Its Scottish arm employs more than 220 people from offices in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and Newcastle and has provided diverse local employment and training opportunities across the country.
Brian McQuade, managing director of Kier Construction Scotland, said: “In Scotland, Kier has secured a solid stream of new business wins.
“Notably, we have been appointed to the ten-year £750m Clyde Commercial Framework. This Kier Graham joint venture will deliver building and civil engineering works to the Clyde naval base at Faslane and Coulport.
“We have also strengthened our healthcare portfolio with a number of recent wins, including a £6m refurbishment programme at Royal Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen and Dr Gray’s hospital in Elgin, developing designs for a £4.8m extension and refurbishment programme at Rowanbank Clinic, part of Stobhill Hospital and carrying out the design and build of a £3.7m, 12-bedded National Secure Adolescent Inpatient Service in Irvine.
“Education remains a key sector and we have secured our first win with hub North Scotland to build the state-of-the-art £30m Alness Academy for the Highland Council.
“Through hub South West Scotland, we have recently completed the £43m William McIlvanney Campus for East Ayrshire Council and will shortly complete the refurbishment of listed buildings at Edinburgh College of Art and Murchison House, both for the University of Edinburgh.”
McQuade added: “In a few months we will complete the restoration of one of Scotland’s oldest and most historic concert halls – the A-listed Aberdeen Music Hall. Equally we look forward to carrying out the £66m redevelopment of the Burrell Collection and the £19.4m redevelopment of the Citizens Theatre.
“We are also celebrating our first anniversary of our successful Shaping Your World campaign where we have pledged 1% of our workforce to act as career ambassadors, working with schools and colleges to engage with young people to highlight the huge diversity of career opportunities in the construction industry.
“This year alone, we have invested 500 hours engaging with nearly 6000 Scottish school pupils.”
Haydn Mursell, Kier Group’s chief executive, said they had reported a good set of results and that all the company’s divisions had performed well.
He said: “We have launched the Future Proofing Kier programme which will streamline the business thereby enabling us to deliver a more efficient service to clients, respond to changes in our markets and capitalise on growth opportunities, whilst, importantly, also accelerating the reduction of the group’s net debt position.
“Our strong market-leading positions, our record £10.2bn construction and services order books, and our £3.5bn property development and residential pipelines, will see the group deliver on its Vision 2020 targets.”
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