Insider Media Limited

Willmott Dixon, the capital works, regeneration and support services company which has offices in Birmingham, has experienced a profits rise for the year ending 31 December of 46 per cent. Its Midlands-based construction division has a 100 per cent order book for this year, Peter Owen, managing director of Willmott Dixon Construction told Insider.

The company made a £26.6m surplus last year. In the Midlands, Willmott Dixon delivered a £200m turnover.

The results reveal the company is now the UK’s second largest privately owned contractor based on turnover.

The company made a £26.6m surplus last year, and its construction division, which is based in Birmingham, has a 100 per cent order book for this year, Peter Owen, managing director of Willmott Dixon Construction told Insider.

Owen said: "In some ways we've been boosted by the public sector. We have been involved in a programme of building academies, so we've always had an 18-month window of protection whilst the construction market in general has dropped.

"What we’re trying to do now is get a 50-50 split between public and private sector work going forward."

Turnover for 2010 was down slightly, from £998.9m to £989.5m, which Owen put down to house building taking "a clobbering".

Owen said: "This strong performance is testament to our strong partnerships, particularly with Birmingham City Council (BCC) which includes a live £95m five-year contract with BCC to provide a repairs, maintenance and 24 hour call out service to 60,000 homes and properties in north & south Birmingham.

"Furthermore, we’re looking to further enhance our strategic partnerships with Walsall MBC and our procurement work through the Scape national framework, as well as continuation our exceptional work on the £35mTamworth Landau Forte Academy with Staffordshire County Council."

Willmott Dixon’s impressive order book is down to planning, said Owen. "We try and keep our order book around 70 per cent full for the 12 months ahead. But the Midlands currently stands at 100 per cent, and, on the back of that we’re lifting we’re lifting our projected delivery on budgets and profitability. This is all based on a strong order book.

"Our order book for 2012 in the Midlands is already running at 50 per cent," he said.

Turning to employment issues, Owen said that the natural churn that has long been a hallmark of the construction industry, had slowed down and that staff were now more than happy to be in a secure job. However, the picture elsewhere in the UK was different.

"We’re seeing a lot more churn in the South East," he said. "Companies are now approaching our people with different opportunities in a way that we’re not seeing in the Midlands and the north."

Owen said, despite Willmott Dixon’s strong order book, he feels the construction industry will be hit hardest at the end of 2012 and into 2013

"Unless there is a change of mind about government spending, or the commercial property market comes back, then I think we’re in for a bumpy ride.

"We’re trying to feed work into the pipeline for this eventuality. The retail side is strong, but we operate on low margins in that sector, and the commercial sector is trying to get going, but not really going anywhere. It’s all about coming up with ideas to get things going."