Galliford Try PLC
2 November 2001
2 November 2001
GALLIFORD TRY PLC
Speaking at the Company's Annual General Meeting, Tony Palmer, Chairman of
Galliford Try plc told shareholders:
I am pleased to report good progress during Galliford Try's first year. We
are now a significant national construction business and a strong regional
housebuilder. The merger has settled down well, our management has integrated
successfully and there is no doubt we have a strong team going forward. I
would like to thank all the Company's people for their contribution during
this time.
In construction our strategy of concentrating on specific market sectors where
we can take a leading position, and our partnership approach to working with
our clients has given us a sound basis on which to grow the business. Two
specific highlights were the achievement of a contractor of the year award for
the Millennium Building constructed for The All England Lawn Tennis Club at
Wimbledon, a client for whom we have worked for 28 years, and the completion
of Birmingham's Millennium Point project. This £63 million contract on a
brownfield site demonstrated first class relationships between customer,
designers, construction team and our supply chain.
In July we announced we had made a £6.5 million exceptional pre tax provision
against the losses on a contract in Daventry where we had constructed a large,
high specification, floor that did not meet its performance criteria. Since
then, we have been working to develop a remedial solution and we now expect to
meet the criteria. Liability for the problem remains to be established, and
the Board is closely following legal advice in the actions it is taking.
Subject to unforeseen circumstances, the Board expects to resolve the issue
within the provision made.
We entered our new financial year with record construction work in hand and
are pleased to have maintained this level over the past three months. We
expect to grow our public sector, social housing and infrastructure work more
rapidly than our workload in the private and commercial sectors.
Specifically, our communications business has, aided by the acquisition of
Burton Communications in the year, grown strongly in servicing the mobile
phone operators who have long term programmes for new installations and
upgrading work. In infrastructure, I highlight our services to the water
industry, where we are involved in a number of capital projects, and in rail
where despite the short term issues resulting from Railtrack's status, we have
recently been awarded a five year framework agreement in the north west and
are confident of sustained demand for our services.
We boosted our housebuilding operations by increasing our investment in our
current businesses and by acquiring two companies in the south west, Gerald
Wood Homes and Knapp New Homes, to add to our existing regional business. Our
strategy of concentrating on individually designed developments with an
expertise in brownfield and conversion has enabled us to develop strong
regional brands in the south east, eastern counties and the south west of
England. We entered our new financial year with the value of sales in hand
over 50% up on last year, a very satisfactory position that we have maintained
to date. Although there are signs that the central London market is losing
the buoyancy of earlier in the year, we have little exposure in this sector.
Our sales in the remainder of the south east are holding up reasonably well
while the south west and eastern counties are performing ahead of
expectations.
The general economic outlook for the UK was already looking weaker before the
events of 11 September. Growth may be held back in some of our markets within
the next 12 months, but our sector strengths and geographic spread encourages
us to look through this period with confidence. Fundamentally, we expect our
market share to grow, and our profit growth will be driven by a combination of
increased turnover and improved margins. Our merger has given us the platform
and financial strength to expand both organically and by acquisition. Subject
to any further downturn in the economy, we expect to maintain our progress
this year.
Tony Palmer
2nd November 2001
For further information please contact:
David Calverley, Chief Executive 01895 855219
George Marsh, Deputy Chief Executive 01455 222707
Frank Nelson, Finance Director 01895 855226
Susan Frost, Beattie Financial 020 7398 3300 / 07900 050 101
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