Barhale’s latest report and accounts reveal another robust performance from the civil engineering, infrastructure and tunnelling specialist as it increased turnover and pre-tax profits in line with its strategic plan.

In the year to 30 June 2023, Barhale Group posted a pre-tax profit of £4.2m, a 33 percent improvement on the previous 12 months. Turnover increased 22.1 percent, from £109m to £133m in the year, as the business continued to perform successfully across all areas.

The cash position also improved despite an increase in working capital requirement to fund the growth in turnover. Net cash at the end of the year stood at £3.9m.

Chief executive Martin Brown is pleased with the progress against Barhale’s five-year business plan, launched in 2021.

“Our strategy is founded on sustainable growth, profitability and alignment with our customers’ critical success factors,” he said.  “After successfully achieving our year one goals of introducing new systems and processes, the primary focus in year two was to make sure they were fully embedded and to make significant investments in our people and plant.

“Achieving year two of our plan is very pleasing and will ensure we reach our 4% PBT target and our five year growth objectives.

“We continue to maintain and build our long-term relationships with our client base. This has translated into a very strong current order book of £886m.

“Creating financial headroom, together with the successful delivery of our year two objectives, provides the platform for us to continue to reinvest in the business and marks another important step towards realising our five year growth aims.”

Martin Brown highlighted Barhale’s capital expenditure programme which has earmarked £8m for investment in plant and machinery and the continued innovation demonstrated by the business.

“Safety remains our number one priority and the interface between our people and our plant is a key risk area,” he said. “In support of this we invested £250k in AI-supported Human Form Recognition (HFR) technology.

“Over the coming year, we will continue to invest in our people, align our targets and objectives with our customers’ needs and further increase focus on cost management, engineering assurance and programme management.

“In a challenging construction sector which has faced rising prices and significant competition for labour, my team has worked diligently and relentlessly to ensure that we delivered our business plan. The results this year are testament to their efforts.”