Durkan sees turnover and profits plummet in 2016

The Hertfordshire-based firm, which develops and builds homes across the South East, announced its results last week, which show revenue of £141.1m for the year to 30 November 2016.

This was down from £192.6m in just 10 months to 30 November 2015 as Durkan got back into full-year reporting after adjusting the dates of its financial year.

Pre-tax profit on ordinary activities was down from £19.1m to £10.2m. It said this reduction was a result of long-term projects completing in the 2015 year.

Headcount dropped at the firm, with the average number of employees down to 197 from 225 in the prior period. However, staff costs still increased slightly last year to £15.0m.

Durkan said it would focus on opportunities for low-risk deals worth up to £50m and “quick-to-execute projects with preferred clients and consultant teams”.

Despite the fall in profits, the company’s construction division ended the year with a “strong” order book of £350m and appointments to selected frameworks for potential work opportunities with a combined value of £4bn.

Its private development pipeline value is in excess of £300m with projects across London and the home counties.

Daniel Durkan, executive chairman of the business, said: “The contracting business has now completed all of the old legacy contracts, which has allowed the business to focus on risk management and margin improvement.

“To improve operational efficiency and profitability we have reduced the total number of third party contracts under management so as to focus on larger projects with higher margins.”

Durkan was earlier this year named on Network Homes’ £500m development framework.

UPDATE at 16.5.2017 at 11.30am

This story was updated with additional information