Profits up, revenue down at Carillion
Wolverhampton construction giant Carillion has reported pre-tax profits of £167.9m in its annual results this morning. Despite the 24 per cent rise on its 2009 results, the company experienced a drop in total revenue of 9 per cent in 2010. Chairman Philip Rogerson said he expected the global economic environment to “continue to make trading conditions difficult, especially in our UK markets”.
Total revenue at the company fell from £5.6bn in 2009 to £5.1bn for the year ending 31 December 2010. Carillion attributed the drop to the effects of selling non-core businesses and investments in Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the previous year.
Underlying pre-tax profit was up 7 per cent to £188.1m, compared with £175.5m in 2009.
The company said that its forward order book was now worth £18.2bn, up from its 2009 value of £17.9bn.
Carillion chairman, Philip Rogerson, said: "I am pleased to report that Carillion performed well in 2010, building on its strong track record to deliver good earnings growth, despite tough market conditions, particularly in the UK. Looking forward, we expect the global economic environment to continue to make trading conditions difficult, especially in our UK markets. However, Carillion has a resilient and well-balanced business mix, good revenue visibility and a record pipeline of contract opportunities.
“Therefore, the board believes that Carillion is well positioned to make further progress in 2011 and to achieve its objectives for medium-term growth, namely, to double its revenues in Canada and in the Middle East and to deliver substantial growth in UK support services.”
Since the year end, Carillion announced a recommended £306.5m offer for the acquisition of Newcastle-based outsourcing company Eaga.
The board said it believed the acquisition would be immediately 'earnings enhancing' and would build on Carillion’s objective for growth.
Carillion, which employs about 46,000 people, has operations across the UK, Canada, the Caribbean and the Middle East.
