For the year ended 31st March 2022 Laing O’Rourke’s global revenue reached £3.0bn (FY21: £2.5bn) but pre-tax profit was just £2.7m (FY21: £41.4m).
Profit before tax, interest repayments and exceptional items was up 26% to £95.5m (FY21: £76.0m). However, the adverse settlement of a long-running argument over a project in Australia that was completed in 2017 wiped nearly £76m off the bottom line, reducing EBIT to £19.8m.
The Australia Hub made a pre-tax loss of £6.2m durign the year.
Separate accounts filed in the UK by Laing O’Rourke plc show that turnover in the year to 31st March 2022 was £1,993m (2021: £1,515m) and pre-tax profit was £16.2m (2021: £4.9m).
At group level, including the company’s Australia-based operations, the order book grew to £9.0bn (FY21 £7.9bn).
During the year to March 2021, net debt was reduced by £160m to its lowest level for six years.
Chief financial officer Rowan Baker said: “The result is a strong, year-on-year improvement across our key financial metrics, with a 20% increase in pre-exceptional revenues and a 26% increase in the underlying earnings before interest and tax to £95.5m. We’ve recorded impressive order book growth through FY22, and even further in the first half of FY23.
“Our performance is bolstered by a more robust balance sheet where net cash further improved by £63.0m to £339.1m alongside the repayment of all bank debt in our Australia Hub and successful refinancing of our core UK bank debt. In the period all remaining shareholder loans were converted to equity, demonstrating the owners’ commitment to our strategic plan.
“This update from FY22 places us in a very strong position to secure an increasing share of future work in our priority sectors, while we continue to invest in areas that will modernise the industry.”
Chief executive and major shareholder Ray O’Rourke, who has previously said he was stepping down in September but still seems to be there, said: “Laing O’Rourke’s results for FY22 reaffirm our confidence in our operating model, which is firmly understood and valued by clients. On an underlying basis, the business continues to go from strength to strength, with a growing order book, growing revenue, and increasing net cash.
“Our ‘one business, two hubs’ structure operates with transparency, agility and certainty, guided by our core values of care, integrity and courage. We remain focused on accelerating the realisation of our strategic vision for 2025 – and have achieved strong results in advancing digital operations, development of our people, sustainability, inclusion, and wellbeing.
“There remains much for us to do to fully unleash the huge potential of our business to support economic recovery, transform productivity and create the green infrastructure that is urgently required to protect the planet.”
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