Housebuilder Bancon harnessing strong foundations after profitable full year

Aberdeenshire-based housebuilding and construction specialist Bancon Group has cheered it achieving profitability in its most recent financial year – despite the impact of Covid-19.

The firm said that in the period ending March 31, turnover fell to £73.6 million from £85m “as a direct result of the loss of almost four months’ trading due to the suspension of all trading activities and the associated disruption caused by the pandemic”.

However, it said the underlying strength of its three businesses, fused with a resilient recovery and trading performance in the second half, resulted in an operating profit of £1.4m.

Three developments were acquired during the year, including Banchory-headquartered Bancon’s first site in the Central Belt, where sales are “out-performing expectations”.

From left: Bancon CEO John Irvine and finance director Andrew Tweedie. Picture: Ross Johnston/Newsline Media.

The business, which has more than 240 staff, is also predicting “significant” growth in turnover and profit for the current year. It is seeing record levels of activity in its timberframe business, new construction contracts, and “extremely positive” home sales, where 75 per cent of the full-year sales targets have already been secured.

Chief executive John Irvine said: “The positive momentum since the easing of lockdown restrictions has continued into the current financial year… With the benefit of a full-year’s uninterrupted trading, the positive forward sales position, and a continuation of our strong underlying trading performance, the group is well-placed to weather the current headwinds regarding materials supply being experienced by the industry and deliver a significant increase in activity and profitability in the coming year.

“We continue to pursue our growth agenda, building on the exceptional performance of our timberframe and construction businesses, and the expansion of our homes business into the Central Belt.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.