Member Article

Owen Pugh reports turnover of £37.3 million after a year of North East investment

North East construction firm Owen Pugh has reported an increase in turnover of 16% to £37.3 million for the year ending March 2014 after a successful year of investments.

The full service civil engineering contractor, which employs 400 people, operates from five regional sites including its head office in Dudley, Northumberland.

Gross profits are up by 20% to £8.2 million resulting in an operating profit of £985k, which is 6.7% higher than it achieved in 2013.

During the year, the group generated £2.81 million cash from operating activities, an 11.3% increase on the previous year.

This cash generation was used to support substantial investments totalling £3.35 million compared with £1.17 million in 2013.

Key strategic investments for Owen Pugh include the opening of a new £900K depot in Blaydon to accommodate the expansion of its civil engineering division.

A total of £2m was spent on plant and machinery across its operations within the financial year.

John Dickson, chairman of the Owen Pugh Group, said: “The overall performance of the group really is an outstanding achievement, particularly when you consider the circumstances within which we are operating.

“The business has seen substantial investment in new plant and equipment, the acquisition of new premises in Blaydon and the retirement of existing shareholders, coupled with continued industry challenges including the impact of the recession on workload volumes together with more recent challenges of resource constraints resulting from improved economic conditions elsewhere in the UK.

“The strategic investments we have made are however starting to reap dividends and are building a solid base for the future by improving capabilities and efficiencies right across our operations.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .