BUILDING contractor Dunne Group said it has maintained a resilient position across key markets in the year ending October 2013, and has lined up an order book value of £156 million for 2014 and 2015.
The Bathgate-based company's directors made the statements in a Companies House filing in which the firm also recorded a year-over-year drop in profit, falling to £1.8m, from £2.1m in 2012.
This compares to a £1.7m pre-tax profit in the year to October 2011, swinging from a loss of £83,076 in the year to October 2010.
In the latest filing, directors Gordon Dunne and Kevin Graham, who did not recommend paying an ordinary dividend, said they were "satisfied" with the year's performance. "The business has maintained a strong position across its key markets with recent success in delivering quality buildings across the UK and Ireland," they stated.
Dunne Group reported turnover of £39.4m, including about £35.3m in the UK and about £4.2m in Europe. This total is down from an overall figure of £40.2m in the prior year, which all related to the UK. The two directors credited the group's regional coverage across the UK as being key, underpinning the business' overall strategy.
They also said the continued development of its London facility, which opened in 2012, has been "a key strategic success as we expand our order book within the south of England".
Current projects for company, which also has premises in Leeds, include prestigious development 100 Bishopsgate in the City, in partnership with main contractor Brookfield Multiplex Europe Ltd. Furthermore the group worked on the London 2012 Olympic Village and a group company provided reinforced concrete for the Shard development in the UK capital.
Dunne is also involved in a three-year £110m construction contract at the new South Glasgow Hospital campus, set for completion in 2015, providing a concrete frame for the main acute building. The business was also the main contractor for the Maggie's Centre at Gartnavel Hospital.
Looking ahead to new projects, according to the filing the firm has £74m of projects at preferred bid stage.
Dunne, which was established in 2001, posted a £42,571 profit on the disposal of fixed assets, from a loss of £29,530 in 2012, with a £110,600 unrealised surplus on revaluation of properties. Its total assets less current liabilities reached £14.1m, up from £10.5m.
Net debt reached £7.5m, from £3.3m in the prior year. In the year ending 2010 the figure was £13.4m, down from £10.3m in the prior year.
Its average number of employees including directors in the year was 331, up from 323 in 2012. It had been greater than 1200 before the recession.
The UK construction sector was hit hard by the recession of 2008/09, and its aftermath.
Mr Dunne said in 2011 that the company had been "lucky" in avoiding major bad debts related to big construction industry players going under, also noting that it had pursued "more profitable jobs, and more negotiated work".
In the latest filing he and Mr Graham said the business' main risks and uncertainties "arise from the general economic conditions".
They added: "We will continue with the strategy of focusing on the selection of high quality opportunities which best complement our skill sets and technical expertise.
"Key wins within the health, energy, residential, retail and commercial sectors drive our focus going forward to ensure we continue to invest in our management and support infrastructure whilst developing the strengths of our team and client relationships across the UK.
"This robust approach will ensure we continue our strong performance whilst underpinning our financial strength to meet new challenges ahead."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article