May Gurney poised for growth

May Gurney says “robust” spending by local authorities, the utilities and the rail authorities had put the firm in a strong financial position for the rest of 2008.

The infrastructure support firm, which has its headquarters at Trowse, near Norwich, and which employs about 1,000 people in and around Norfolk, said its order book stood at £1.25bn and that its performance in the first half of the year had provided a “good cash position and clear opportunities for growth”.

Philip Fellowes-Prynne, chief operating officer, said: “We continue to remain confident about our business prospects for the current financial year and beyond. We are in two very resilient areas - the regulated industries, like the utilities and Network Rail and the Environment Agency, and the local authority marketplace.

“Certainly both have their budgets committed for this year, so they remain strong. All of the indications are that they will remain strong. Maintenance will have to continue, as far as we can see, and any wavering or concern about spending in either sector is related to big capital projects that might be delayed - and we're not involved with

them or looking to bid for them.

“So we feel we're in a good place. We acquired ECT Recycling in the summer of this year and that also brought a strong order book in local authority work. We feel local authority waste management is going to be a growth area because of future regulatory pressures and increases in landfill tax and so on.

“We've always developed strong relationships with our clients and understanding local authorities and the pressures they are under makes us well placed to diversify into other local authority spend and management.”

The firm, which provides services to highways, municipal waste, rail utilities and general infrastructure markets, recorded profits of £18.7m for the 12 months to March 31 - up from £16.2m a year earlier.

The results marked May Gurney's ninth consecutive year of growth.

Courtesy of EDP

03 October 2008