Scottish success boosts contractor Graham as turnover tops £1bn but profits under pressure

National contractor and developer Graham has hailed a major contribution from its Scottish business after annual revenues jumped above £1 billion.

The group said its northern building region had enjoyed a “strong performance” with highlights including completion of Glasgow’s Buchanan Wharf development, involving the handover of a building to the Student Loans Company and completion of extensive public realm at the Barclays banking campus. The group also completed the £33 million Fife Orthopaedics facility on behalf of NHS Fife, which became the first national treatment centre in Scotland.

The latest accounts show that Graham generated overall revenue of £1.094bn following the successful delivery of major projects across its core market sectors - building, civil engineering, interior fit-out, facilities management and development management. The figure is a 15.3 per cent increase from the £948.3m generated a year earlier. Cash at bank and in hand increased to £177.1m, a year-on-year rise of 28 per cent - while profit before tax was recorded at a “healthy” £15.1m. Bosses noted that profitability had been impacted by “well-publicised inflationary pressures facing the wider economy”.

Other key work north of the Border included completion of the £12.5m Laidlaw Music Centre at the University of St Andrews and the £47m Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh.

Graham Group chief executive Andrew Bill said: “We are very pleased with these latest published accounts, which demonstrate a strong performance in our core markets. This has been achieved despite the complexity of the current inflationary environment and other notable external factors. Strong governance and commercial management are at the heart of our approach to sustainable growth. The adoption of a pragmatic and selective approach to work winning, built on a platform of risk management, allows us to positively approach the rest of 2023 and beyond.”

The group’s “building north” region encompasses sites across Scotland, the north of England and Northern Ireland, delivered by a team of more than 300 people. Across the UK and Ireland, Graham has more than 2,000 staff. The firm said its track record for “delivering lasting impact” was evidenced in the £379.9m social return on investment it has delivered for communities across the UK and Ireland.