Ogilvie shows steady profits despite dip in turnover

Deputy Business Editor

Wednesday 13 March 2013

FLEET management, construction and house-building firm Ogilvie Group has booked steady pre-tax profits of £2.7 mil-lion in spite of a dip in turnover.

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GREIG CAMERON DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR

The Stirling company said turnover including revenue received from joint ventures was down from £171.8m to £168.8m in the 12 months to June 30, 2012.

The fleet business, which has around 10,500 vehicles, was the strongest performer, with turn-over accelerating from £97.7m to £104.8m and operating profit rising from £2.1m to £2.5m.

The construction results were described as "acceptable" even although expected work in the education and health sectors has been slower to begin than anticipated while Ogilvie Homes continues to be restricted by the lack of consumer confidence in the housing market.The combined house-building and construction division reported a fall in turnover of £71.1m to £58.1m with operating profit tumbling from £1.7m to £477,000.The group's other activities, which include IT, telecoms and land surveying, showed a rise in income from almost £3m to just short of £6m, with a £381,000 loss being turned around into a £180,000 gain.John Watson, finance director, said: "Fleet is going from strength to strength. It has had a fantastic six months [in the current financial year] and will outstrip its profits for last year, no question."Mr Watson said the firm was expanding its fleet activities around the UK and planned to increase its vehicle numbers in Northern Ireland from 1000 to 3000 in the next "two to three" years as it aimed to become the market leader in that country.While admitting the housing and construction sectors remained challenging, Mr Watson said there had been some positive signs since the start of 2013. He said: "We have picked up some construction projects and mortgages appear to be becoming more available."The Scottish Government's MI New Homes initiative will hopefully start to take root and 95% mortgages will return for first-time buyers."The improvement in the IT division was put down to winning new private sector clients and some public sector contracts starting.Net debt increased from £27m to £36m but Mr Watson said the company was operating "well within" its facilities with Barclays and would be paying debt down.Staff costs declined from £15.7m to £15.1m while the average weekly number of employees fell from 403 to 390.Directors' remuneration increased from £927,000 to almost £1.1m, with the highest paid seeing their pay packet grow from £331,000 to £430,000.

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Ogilvie shows steady profits despite dip in turnover

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