Members of steel company British Steel have revealed this very day that the year 2016 has been a lucrative and rather profitable year for them. Since the firm’s inception on the first day of June 2016, British Steel has never looked better and has made considerable developments showing that it
North Yorkshire based structural steel group, Severfield plc, has recently secured six new contracts worth £72 million. One of the new contract victories is the firm’s appointment as the steelwork contractor on the development of 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London. Severfield will provide support to Multiplex in the
Italy-based construction giant Nacanco has reported growth in the first half of its 15th year in operation. This comes on the heels of the company’s activities to expand its fleet and increase its presence in the construction industry. Managing Director, Marzia Giusto, reported a 5% increase in sales and a corresponding
Middlesbrough manufacturing firm ESCS could be set for a 50% boost to turnover after attracting a growing interest from China. At present the fire protection company has a turnover of £500,000. It sent its self-designed ES300 TL system for demonstrations with a major gas and oil firm based in Qingdao, China.
Consultancy firm EnAppSys says that a harsh winter would make it ‘very expensive’ to balance the market due to tight supply margins, according to its latest analysis. The research has forecast that over the season there will be around 12 and a half hours of negative supply margins, with seven
One to watch this year is Breedon Aggregates as, in line with the resurgence of the UK construction industry, the company has seen a stark increase in group turnover as highlighted in last year’s financial reports. In addition to this, a marked increase in company profits has also been highlighted.
Forterra, the UK’s leading producer of manufactured masonry products, as well as a frontrunner in the manufacture of clay bricks, has recently announced a plan to float on the stock exchange. Expected to float within some four weeks’ time, Forterra has laid out plans to submit an application for ordinary
Although in the process of being purchased by Breedon Aggregates, Hope Construction Materials has made the move to continue growing and solidifying its market brand, attempting to secure the future of the company, and potentially lay the foundations for the takeover by Breedon Aggregates. The takeover, which still requites approval
A surge in interest for speciality and performance films is on the horizon, figures suggest. Brought about through increasing growth within the flexible packaging and solar energy industries, it is expected that there will be an interested interest in, and focus upon new films which are able to offer enhanced
Breedon Aggregates has reported a 28% rise in half-year revenue and a near doubling of pre-tax profits. Breedon Aggregates has reported a 28% rise in half-year revenue and a near doubling of pre-tax profits. Read Full Article: The Construction Index
Members of steel company British Steel have revealed this very day that the year 2016 has been a lucrative and rather profitable year for them. Since the firm’s inception on the first day of June 2016, British Steel has never looked better and has made considerable developments showing that it will emerge into 2017 as a lucrative and highly capable business enterprise. Its ability to have secured a large deal of transactions has loaded British Steel with endless opportunities to develop itself into a thriving business community as the months progress. With contractual deals involving Hinkley Point and Italy’s RFI (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana), British Steel is set forward to be busier than ever in its commitment to providing services to professional clients all over Europe and the rest of the world. To cope with this significant expansion, it was equally necessary that more employment opportunities were created by the company. Since June, British Steel has accrued an impressive extra 350 individuals in employment with the company, and has also been the attractive target of many members of the younger generation of university and college graduates. Indeed, more than 3,400 of these applied to work for British Steel in a variety of different capacities, and now British Steel has declared that 114 individuals will be taken on by the company, either on placements or to learn more about the trade itself and take on the various different apprenticeship opportunities that British Steel has to offer. To add further to these improvements and exciting new developments, Mister Roland Junck adds that the last seven months have been very good and informative to the prospects that British Steel can expect. Mister Junck emphasizes that the company’s combined commitment to developments great and small all over the country and the rest of Europe can only be a good thing and will ensure that the business continues to thrive and expand.
North Yorkshire based structural steel group, Severfield plc, has recently secured six new contracts worth £72 million. One of the new contract victories is the firm’s appointment as the steelwork contractor on the development of 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London. Severfield will provide support to Multiplex in the building of 22 Bishopsgate (net internal area of 1.4 million sq ft) by providing metal decking and superstructure structural steelwork. Among the five other contracts will see Severfield working on a commercial office development in the Midlands; two distribution centres in the South East; a research and development complex in Manchester and an extension to a retail complex in London. Severfield plc Chief Executive Officer, Ian Lawson, said: “We are delighted to announce these new contract wins and are excited to be working with Multiplex on such a high profile development as 22 Bishopsgate. “This further demonstrates the breadth of the group’s capabilities and the quality of our order book. “The Group has a longstanding history of working on iconic London buildings such as The Shard, London Bridge Station and Wimbledon No 1 Court. “Our design, experience and engineering skills have resulted in a strong pipeline across a range of sectors.” Last month it was announced that Severfield would replace William Hare on 22 Bishopsgate Project. William Hare was previously in line to build the 62-storey tower steelwork, but main contractor Multiplex has now made the decision to go with Severfield for the job. It is believed that Severfield is set to begin work in mid-December, subject to final contracts being agreed. Other subcontractors working on the scheme include Keltbray, which has been carrying out demolition and excavation work in the building’s basement, and Careys, which is building the tower’s concrete core. Since the vote to leave the European Union in June, the main investor behind the project asked the scheme’s remaining backers whether they wanted to proceed with construction of the tower.
Italy-based construction giant Nacanco has reported growth in the first half of its 15th year in operation. This comes on the heels of the company’s activities to expand its fleet and increase its presence in the construction industry. Managing Director, Marzia Giusto, reported a 5% increase in sales and a corresponding increase in the company’s operating profit. He claimed this was in part due to longer average rental contracts and utilisation which grew from 62% to 65% in two years. Company reports also indicate that the firm’s ReRent service continually records profits. The company has also invested in expanding its fleet. It recently purchased JLG electric scissor lifts with 8m-10m working heights, an 18m JLG diesel articulated boom lifts and 20m Socage truck mounts. Nacanco now boasts more than 2500 pieces of equipment for hire. This comprises over 100 different models with a range of capabilities catering for heights between 3 and 43 metres. The Managing Director went on to recall the giant strides made by Nacanco’s sister company. Nacanco Service grew in terms of turnover, number of certified operators and range of different training facilities it provides. Giusto, stated that the company expects to keep the current growth rates and margins until the end of the year. The announcement comes as Nacanco celebrates 15 years in the aerial equipment rental sector. Employees celebrated with an open day at the company’s head office in Montichiari, Brescia. The celebrations also saw the launch of a new branch in Verona, a city in the north of Italy. ‘Increase the level of services’ Commenting on the launch of the new branch, the commercial director of Nacanco, Ramon Santamaria stated that it was part of the company’s strategy to increase the level of services offered to final users, both in terms of the variety of equipment offered and the firm’s presence in the industry.”
Middlesbrough manufacturing firm ESCS could be set for a 50% boost to turnover after attracting a growing interest from China. At present the fire protection company has a turnover of £500,000. It sent its self-designed ES300 TL system for demonstrations with a major gas and oil firm based in Qingdao, China. Talks are now underway with regard to the Chinese company possibly ordering 10 of the machines in a £250,000 deal. ESCS makes specialist corrosion control and spray application equipment. It already boasts major gas and oil operators in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia among its customers. However, managing director Shaun McDonald believes that the ES300 TL has the ability to revolutionise the fire protection sector. The specialist machines spray thick coatings of intumescent epoxy materials to protect steel structures from the threat of fire. ESCS already makes and exports the ES430 from its new premises on South Tees Freight Park. The ES430 is a bigger applicator of passive fire protection, but on request from its Chinese customer produced the smaller, faster version. ‘A real innovation’ McDonald devised ESCS himself and invested £27,000 into the planning, design and research of the machine, with manufacturing support from Middlesbrough companies Donoghue Engineering and Teesside Precision Engineering. He now believes that after initial trials at Azko Nobel in Felling, the new machine is going to be a big hit throughout the sector. McDonald said: “I knew it would do a job, as it will reduce the set-up time and application process on smaller jobs by at least two thirds, but it far surpassed even my own high expectations during the testing. “This is a real innovation because it will save so much time. There is nothing like this on the market so I think these machines will fly off the shelf once people out there know about it.”
Consultancy firm EnAppSys says that a harsh winter would make it ‘very expensive’ to balance the market due to tight supply margins, according to its latest analysis. The research has forecast that over the season there will be around 12 and a half hours of negative supply margins, with seven of which are predicted to fall during the National Grid’s winter period, while the other five and a half hours are expected to fall in October and March – the ‘shoulder’ months. The firm also predicted that there will be 85 hours of supply margins less than 2GW, over half of which will come during the shoulder months. This data is in stark contrast to their calculation of last year which predicted a margin above 2GW throughout the whole of the 2015/16 winter, barring just two hours when it averaged 1,500MW. The research data was gathered by taking the availability figures of last year and modifying them to account for the opening and closing of plants in 2016, and then matching them against the demand profile of 2015. Ferrybridge and Longannet are among the plants lost in the last year, both of which closed down in March, while Eggborough has also exited the market but still has a ‘supplemental balance reserve (SBR) contract. Meanwhile, Engie has also confirmed that the Rugeley plant will be shut down later in the month. On the other side of the coin, two new plants have opened. The Keadby CCGT plant reopened in November last year after being ‘mothballed’ for some time. The Carrington Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant will also open over the summer and is currently being commissioned. EnAppSys says that the negative supply margins will not result in blackouts as they do not factor in the potential 2GW of smaller plants that may be available through the Short Term Operating Reserve.
One to watch this year is Breedon Aggregates as, in line with the resurgence of the UK construction industry, the company has seen a stark increase in group turnover as highlighted in last year’s financial reports. In addition to this, a marked increase in company profits has also been highlighted. Showcasing an 18% increase in revenues for 2015, Breedon Aggregates’ turnover totalled in at a notable £318.5m for 2015, showcasing considerable growth in the present market – a market which, while recovering, is still relatively volatile by nature. In line with the growth, Breedon Aggregates also enjoyed a rise in pre-tax profits for 2015, rising by approximately 46% to a value of £31,3m. The underlying EBITDA for Breedon Aggregates saw an increase up to £54.9m, with its margin increasing up to 17.2% for 2015, effectively meeting the group’s medium term target for EBITDA margin as set all the way back in 2010, thus positioning the company in a relatively strong position for the coming years. The results come as the company is in the final stages of securing its £336m acquisition of leading construction material supplier, Hope Construction Materials, which is hoped to be checked off from a regulatory respective mid-2016. Of course, should the acquisition go as plans, predictions for the group’s future revenue levels could considerably overshadow the success of 2015. With Hope Construction Materials also still releasing new, branded products to the market, this is expected to further strengthen the brand in the coming times, as well as providing even greater access to group turnovers should the deal with Breedon Aggregates go ahead. “We begin an exciting new era in 2016 with the planned acquisition of Hope and we look forward to the future with confidence,” commented Breedon Aggregates’ Executive Chairman, Peter Tom. This, of course, ties in with governmental commitments to investing back into infrastructure and an increase workloads for the entirety of the sector as leading infrastructure projects come into action.
Forterra, the UK’s leading producer of manufactured masonry products, as well as a frontrunner in the manufacture of clay bricks, has recently announced a plan to float on the stock exchange. Expected to float within some four weeks’ time, Forterra has laid out plans to submit an application for ordinary shares in the company to be listed in the premium section of the Official List of the FCA as well as to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s main market in the section of listed securities. Credited with bringing the company back into the production of a previously-mothballed capacity sitting at a total of 50m bricks per year, Forterra has seemingly turned the tides, and has also seen the increased capacity for production at its Measham site by some 19m bricks per year. In fact, the past few years have seen a great degree of investment into its production facilities, not solely from a capacity perspective, but also from that of improving the efficiencies of production at a number, including improvements made at the sites in Hoveringham, Hams Hall, Accrington, and the aforementioned site at Measham. Claiming to be the only UK manufacturer to offer a significant range of concrete blocks and clay bricks, Forterra offers a vast range of products under its own brand identity, as well as Fletton brick under the brand of the London Brick. Referred to as one of the leading producer of building materials, specifically in the UK, Stephen Harrison, Chief Executive of Forterra explained: “The fundamentals of our industry are attractive.” Then highlighting how the company has the base in place from which the company can operate onto and into the future, he also went on to comment: “Listing as a business is the next step in realising the significant potential that we see for Forterra.”
Although in the process of being purchased by Breedon Aggregates, Hope Construction Materials has made the move to continue growing and solidifying its market brand, attempting to secure the future of the company, and potentially lay the foundations for the takeover by Breedon Aggregates. The takeover, which still requites approval from the competition authorities, is predicted to come to fruition over the course of the year, yet, whether through uncertainty of approval or a determination to prove the strength of the brand to Breedon Aggregates, the company is displaying a degree of normality in operation as if planning for the future of the organisation, much like any other. Additionally, Hope Construction Materials is also set to launch a brand new brand of bagged cement, to be transported from the production plant in Derbyshire by rail, through to distribution at the new plant in Dagenham. The products, once distributed, are expected to be available to customers throughout the South of England. The move represent the company’s first time both producing and branding its own cement products for mass distribution – previously the supply of its cement products had been undertaken by third party suppliers. It’s of no real surprise that Hope Construction Materials expects to go ahead with the product launch, despite the takeover talks, due to the stage of the project which has been some around a year and a half in the making. Additionally, a great deal of research has been undertaken so as best to ensure that the product is targeted towards the increasingly-specific requirements of the modern building industry – this undertaken through communication with leading builders and merchants to understand their needs. Hope Construction Materials’ Commercial Director, Gary Brennand explained: “Using this insight we have developed a full package which we believe will redefine the sector.” As such, the new, professional grade cement is expected to be received with much anticipation with the greater construction industry.
A surge in interest for speciality and performance films is on the horizon, figures suggest. Brought about through increasing growth within the flexible packaging and solar energy industries, it is expected that there will be an interested interest in, and focus upon new films which are able to offer enhanced mechanical and aesthetic value for customers brought about through new, innovative production techniques. With packaging sector professionals taking a great step forward from more traditional means of production, organisations are now increasingly being seen to incorporate advanced technologies and develop new, innovative methods of producing packaging as backed by notable growth in the wider industry. Of the new, innovative products brought to the market as a result, performance, speciality films are of the most prominent, with such films boasting improved protection in ensuring that products such as perishable items remain undamaged. Additionally, the films have also been shown to bring considerable benefits for with Solar PV and other electrical goods due to conductivity levels. In an official report put out there by Transparency Market Research, it has been highlighted that these films are on the brink of extreme market interest, with a projected value of the performance films market sitting at $42.21 at the close of 2019. And while the growth up until this point is naturally expected to be a steady increase, those organisations involved in the production of performance and speciality films are expected to be provided with ample opportunity to take advantage of the increasingly dominating market. In other areas of film development, research and development has been conducted with the view to bringing water-soluble films to the market also, offering a highly sustainable solution for green-conscious companies. That said, performance films are presently reliant upon crude oil production, which remains less friendly towards the environment. This, as a result, means the market may remain fairly volatile as a result of regular changes in oil pricing as well as the public’s view of the industry. And so, looking forward, the challenge to put to manufacturers of such films is quite clearly to find a way to combine the best of both worlds and, if this can be achieved, success can, in turn, be all but assured.
Breedon Aggregates has reported a 28% rise in half-year revenue and a near doubling of pre-tax profits. Breedon Aggregates has reported a 28% rise in half-year revenue and a near doubling of pre-tax profits. Read Full Article: The Construction Index
