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Construction Market Data

22 December 2024

Related Information

Top 100 Construction Companies 2015

Who’s up and who’s down?

A year on from the confirmation of a sustained growth trend for UK construction activity, the mood has turned from rampant optimism to deep concern at the profitability of contractors. Recent months have seen a steady flow of bad news from the industry’s major players. Several major businesses have issued profit warnings, some have announced eye-watering losses and – worst of all – a handful of significant businesses have collapsed, such as GB Building Solutions, or declared their insolvency, for example the Dutch parent company and German fellow subsidiary of the UK operations of Imtech.

The half-year figures posted in mid-August by the UK’s largest contractor, Balfour Beatty, were truly shocking, adding a further £150m loss for just six months to the £304m loss declared for the calendar year 2014.

Observers could be forgiven for wondering just how many skeletons there are in Balfour Beatty’s financial cupboard, while Carillion shareholders will be heaving huge sighs of relief that last year’s attempt to take over Balfour Beatty failed. Meanwhile our third largest contractor, Interserve, has just reported that margins in its UK construction business have fallen from 1.9% to only 1.1% in the first half of 2015.

For full analysis of 2015 Top 100, please click here.

Rank by turnover Rank by profit Company 2014 Rank by turnover 2014 Rank by profit Latest turnover (£m) 2014 turnover (£m) Latest pre-tax profit (£m) 2014 Pre-tax profit (£m) Latest margin (%) Previous margin (%)
1 100 Balfour Beatty 1 100 8,793 8,852 -304.0 -49.0 -3.5 -0.6
2 1 Carillion  2 1 4,072 4,081 142.6 110.6 3.5 2.7
3 4 Interserve 4 4 3,305 2,582 61.9 68.1 1.9 2.6
4 21 Kier Group 3 7 2,985 2,669 14.8 43.0 0.5 1.6
5 13 Morgan Sindall  5 19 2,220 2,095 22.8 13.9 1.0 0.7
6 2 Amey Uk 6 2 2,168 1,762 106.7 78.7 4.9 4.5
7 3 Galliford Try 9 3 1,768 1,467 95.2 74.1 5.4 5.1
8 30 Laing O'Rourke 8 15 1,669 1,640 10.4 21.5 0.6 1.3
9 11 Keller 10 5 1,600 1,438 28.2 52.0 1.8 3.6
10 16 Bam 7 8 1,596 1,647 21.6 32.0 1.4 1.9
11 36 Isg 11 47 1,483 1,284 6.8 2.5 0.5 0.2
12 5 Skanska 13 6 1,260 1,121 41.3 44.2 3.3 3.9
13 18 Willmott Dixon  15 33 1,259 1,023 17.0 6.9 1.4 0.7
14 9 Mace 14 9 1,183 1,108 32.4 28.3 2.7 2.6
15 14 Costain 16 21 1,123 960 22.6 12.9 2.0 1.3
16 98 Sir Robert Mcalpine 18 36 1,064 898 -67.8 5.9 -6.4 0.7
17 15 Wates 17 11 1,050 931 22.6 22.3 2.2 2.4
18 99 Vinci Uk 12 31 1,017 1,255 -216.9 7.1 -21.3 0.6
19 6 J Murphy 25 13 954 653 34.7 21.9 3.6 3.4
20 19 Lakeside 1  19 98 931 886 16.2 -21.4 1.7 -2.4
21 10 Mears 20 14 839 866 29.7 21.7 3.5 2.5
22 12 Bowmer And Kirkland 24 10 732 660 27.1 23.1 3.7 3.5
23 26 Volkerwessels Uk 23 22 697 691 11.5 11.7 1.6 1.7
24 27 Shepherd  22 20 686 748 11.4 13.0 1.7 1.7
25 8 Miller 21 26 674 817 34.6 10.4 5.1 1.3
26 25 Imtech 26 12 645 648 12.5 22.3 1.9 3.4
27 94 Morrison Utility Services  27 92 518 550 -6.9 -5.5 -1.3 -1.0
28 51 Sse Contracting 28 16 490 490 3.9 20.8 0.8 4.2
29 22 Renew Holdings 33 24 464 350 13.1 10.7 2.8 3.1
30 29 Lend Lease 29 94 441 449 10.6 -8.6 2.4 -1.9
31 57 John Graham 32 85 429 364 2.7 -2.2 0.6 -0.6
32 48 Mclaren 31 23 411 378 4.3 11.7 1.0 3.1
33 35 N G Bailey 30 95 380 422 6.9 -10.1 1.8 -2.4
34 96 Byrne Group 36 72 349 280 -12.1 0.6 -3.5 0.2
35 44 Geoffrey Osborne  38 87 327 256 5.0 -2.8 1.5 -1.1
36 24 Integral Uk 39 25 310 239 12.9 10.7 4.2 4.5
37 42 Buckingham  54 78 309 184 5.4 0.5 1.7 0.3
38 80 Lakehouse  52 32 302 191 0.1 7.1 0.0 3.7
39 28 Brookfield Multiplex 45 28 295 222 10.9 8.3 3.7 3.7
40 66 John Sisk 35 58 278 294 1.3 1.4 0.5 0.5
41 52 Clancy 41 73 270 239 3.9 0.6 1.4 0.3
42 43 R G Carter 40 39 261 239 5.1 5.4 2.0 2.3
43 7 Robertson Group  43 89 261 231 34.7 -3.9 13.3 -1.7
44 40 Carey Group 53 51 258 188 6.0 2.1 2.3 1.1
45 93 Ardmore  42 65 241 236 -5.7 0.9 -2.4 0.4
46 39 Northstone Ni 34 29 239 299 6.1 8.0 2.6 2.7
47 92 City Building (Glasgow)  51 84 237 195 -4.4 -1.2 -1.9 -0.6
48 88 Longcross 47 61 231 216 -1.2 1.1 -0.5 0.5
49 87 T Clarke 46 56 228 217 -0.7 1.7 -0.3 0.8
50 32 Emcor 37 96 225 274 10.0 -13.1 4.4 -4.8
52 41 Lorne Stewart 50 37 203 200 5.6 5.7 2.8 2.9
51 60 Midas  56 59 203 181 2.1 1.2 1.0 0.7
53 84 Severfield 44 90 202 231 -0.2 -4.1 -0.1 -1.8
54 37 Malcolm Group 48 34 197 212 6.7 6.5 3.4 3.1
55 91 Mclaughlin & Harvey  67 44 196 158 -3.6 3.2 -1.8 2.0
56 90 North Midland Construction  59 93 193 178 -3.0 -6.0 -1.6 -3.4
57 53 Esh Holdings  62 74 192 174 3.2 0.6 1.7 0.3
58 59 Higgins  58 48 181 179 2.4 2.3 1.3 1.3
59 17 Bechtel 65 18 178 162 18.0 14.8 10.1 9.1
60 46 Eric Wright  49 38 177 201 4.6 5.6 2.6 2.8
61 64 Forth Holdings 57 40 175 181 1.5 5.4 0.9 3.0
62 97 Spie 55 97 166 183 -13.5 -17.4 -8.1 -9.5
63 54 William Hare 68 54 165 157 3.2 1.9 1.9 1.2
64 23 Mullalley  72 27 163 135 13.0 8.5 8.0 6.3
65 45 Lagan  61 46 158 174 4.8 2.8 3.0 1.6
66 74 Mcnicholas Construction 70 42 156 143 0.4 4.0 0.3 2.8
67 49 Mabey  71 99 153 142 4.2 -24.3 2.7 -17.1
68 50 Seddon 66 52 149 162 4.1 2.0 2.8 1.2
69 20 Barr 64 49 148 164 15.7 2.2 10.6 1.3
70 68 Rgcm 63 57 148 166 1.2 1.6 0.8 1.0
71 47 Winvic  73 45 146 112 4.5 3.1 3.1 2.8
72 38 Dawnus 60 17 142 177 6.2 17.6 4.4 9.9
73 31 Thomas Armstrong  74 30 125 110 10.2 7.5 8.2 6.8
74 58 M.V. Kelly  79 60 122 94 2.5 1.2 2.0 1.3
75 56 Lindum  78 55 121 94 2.9 1.9 2.4 2.0
76 75 Tolent  77 91 113 97 0.4 -4.6 0.4 -4.7
77 34 Masterton 83 41 110 84 7.0 4.8 6.4 5.7
78 78 G.F.Tomlinson  76 88 107 99 0.2 -3.6 0.2 -3.6
79 95 Iss  69 62 102 146 -12.0 1.1 -11.8 0.8
80 33 R.J. Mcleod  82 35 100 84 7.8 6.5 7.8 7.7
81 86 Headcrown 75 86 99 102 -0.5 -2.5 -0.5 -2.5
82 81 City Building  81 83 97 90 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
83 72 Trant 84 66 79 67 0.6 0.9 0.8 1.3
84 76 Speller Metcalfe 89 82 77 56 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.4
85 71 Simpson (York) 80 50 74 93 0.9 2.2 1.2 2.4
88 69 Barnes Group  86 67 70 63 1.1 0.9 1.6 1.4
86 65 John Turner  87 68 70 62 1.4 0.9 2.0 1.5
87 61 Shaylor  94 69 70 43 2.1 0.9 3.0 2.1
89 73 Base Build 88 79 66 60 0.5 0.4 0.8 0.7
90 89 Stepnell 85 43 63 67 -2.5 3.3 -4.0 4.9
91 82 Ogilvie Construction 91 76 56 47 0.1 0.6 0.2 1.3
92 63 Feltham Group  90 75 48 51 1.7 0.6 3.5 1.2
93 79 Brymor  95 81 46 43 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.7
94 83 Ashe Group  92 80 45 47 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.6
95 55 Verbier 100 64 44 36 3.2 1.1 7.3 3.1
96 85 Moortown 96 71 43 42 -0.4 0.7 -0.9 1.7
97 67 Cardy 99 63 42 37 1.3 1.1 3.1 3.0
98 70 Jerram 98 70 41 38 1.0 0.9 2.4 2.4
99 62 Vascroft 93 53 40 44 2.1 2.0 5.3 4.5
100 77 Blenheim House 97 77 37 41 0.3 0.6 0.8 1.5
TOTALS 59,425 55,494 462 789 0.8 1.4


Key:
up Up from 2014
up Down from 2014
up No change from 2014