Infrastructure contract framework wins have spurred revenue and profit at tier one contractor Galliford Try in the first half (H1) of its 2025 financial year.
Turnover at the firm – ranked 15th in the CN100 2024 table of top contractors – totalled £923.2m in the six months to 31 December.
This marked a 13 per cent increase on the £819.1m it posted in H1 2024.
Pre-tax profit increased by 54 per cent to £20m, compared with £13m in H1 2024, the company said in a London Stock Exchange announcement this morning (5 March).
Galliford Try’s H1 profit margin ticked up from 2.5 per cent in H1 last year to 2.7 per cent.
Chief executive Bill Hocking told Construction News that the group was on track to achieve a margin of 4 per cent by 2030 as per its strategic plan. “We had an original target of 3 per cent in 2026 and that remains a waypoint on route to our 4 per cent in 2030,” he added.
The order book reached £3.9bn, up from £3.7bn in H1 2024, with 98 per cent of projected FY25 revenue and 81 per cent of FY26 revenue already secured.
“The vast majority of our work comes through long-term frameworks, and that gives us stability and long-term line of sight,” Hocking said. “Custodial, defence and education are having real impetus for us.”
Since July 2024, Galliford Try has secured several significant projects, including two building projects in London valued at a combined £87m, the £88.9m South East Aylesbury Link Road, and places on major frameworks such as the £3.7bn Wessex Water AMP8 framework.
The infrastructure division’s H1 revenue rose by 25 per cent to £451.7m, while the building division’s turnover grew by 4.8 per cent year on year to £467.3m.
Galliford Try’s building division also won places on the £835m NHS North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative framework in H1.
Net cash stood at £210m at the end of 2024, similar to its previous H1 total of £209.2m but down from £227m in June 2024.
The group has no bank loan debt to repay within 12 months, but it did establish a £25m unsecured three-year revolving credit facility with Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and the National Bank of Kuwait.
Hocking described the credit facility as “nothing more than good practice”, adding that Galliford Try’s “average month-end cash has gone up 33 per cent” year on year from £132.7m to £176.4m.
“We want our cash to be within a tramline of between 8 and 12 per cent of our revenues, and that £176m is just under 10 per cent,” he added.
The company reported a 37.5 per cent increase in its interim dividend per share to 5.5p, up from a 4.0p payout in H1 2024.
Hocking noted delays in obtaining gateway two regulatory approvals for high-risk residential buildings but told CN, “we have very, very few of those – it’s a tiny part of our business.”
However, the interim results statement said the group was “tracking a pool of three fire safety claims which meet the definition of contingent liabilities” but believed it had “strong legal positions on all cases”.
If there is a legal settlement in the three cases, Galliford Try added that “management expects there will be recovery from the supply chain, designers or insurers that can be full or partial”.
Looking ahead, Hocking described “improved revenue, margin, and profit expectations for the full year”.
The group predicts a full-year pre-tax profit of more than £36m – higher than the £32.7m it posted last year and “above our previous top-end guidance”, he told CN.