The chief executive of Galliford Try has said he does not expect the Spring Budget to contain anything \u201cof great import\u201d to his company.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Construction News<\/em>, Bill Hocking also said he is relaxed about which party wins the next general election but is keen to see an overhaul of the UK\u2019s planning process \u2013 in particular relating to national infrastructure schemes.<\/p>\n Hocking was speaking as Galliford Try published interim results for the six months ending 31 December. The group\u2019s revenue increased 21 per cent year on year to \u00a3819m, while pre-tax profit increased by a third to \u00a315.6m.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t foresee any changes in spending plans [that affect Galliford Try] \u2013 departmental budgets have already been set,\u201d said Hocking ahead of chancellor Jeremy Hunt\u2019s tax and spending announcements this afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there is some change, I think it will be very moderate in terms of our sectors. We don\u2019t see anything of any great import coming out of the Budget today in terms of our markets.\u201d<\/p>\n Hocking added that \u201cgiving markets confidence is the main thing\u201d he would like to see from the budget, saying that recent growth in the company\u2019s building division was largely due to a bounceback after \u201ca hiatus [in developer investment] after the Liz Truss debacle\u201d.<\/p>\n Financial markets were spooked in 2022 after then prime minister Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced unfunded tax cuts in a disastrous \u201cmini-budget\u201d that cost the country \u00a330bn, according to the independent Resolution Foundation.<\/p>\n Hocking told CN <\/em>that despite the impact of politics on the economy, Galliford Try is relaxed about the outcome of the next general election, which is widely expected to take place later this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIn all of our sectors the work has to carry on regardless, pretty much. I don\u2019t want to sound blas\u00e9 about that, but if you look at defence, education, water, highways, energy\u2026 everywhere you look there is a huge amount of work to be done.<\/p>\n \u201cI think whichever government [comes next], our markets remain robust,\u201d he said, before adding: \u201cHistorically Labour governments have been better for the construction industry than Conservative.\u201d<\/p>\n However, on the UK planning process Hocking said: \u201cThe whole consenting process can take forever and is open to challenge from all. Respecting democracy [is important] but [we need to ensure] we can\u2019t allow interminable challenges to delay the infrastructure that this country needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Galliford Try has a forward order book of \u00a33.7bn, a divisional operating margin of 2.5 per cent and an average month-end net cash of \u00a3150m, according to results posted to the London Stock Exchange this morning.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s building division saw its revenue increase 12 per cent to \u00a3446m, while its infrastructure division saw revenue leap 31 per cent to \u00a3362m. The company also had \u00a311.1m in\u00a0 \u201cinvestments\u201d revenue after starting work on its first build-to-rent development, in Cardiff.<\/p>\n In a statement accompanying the results, Hocking said: \u201cThere is strong momentum in the business and our continued excellent performance is a reflection of our disciplined strategy, committed people and long-established relationships with our supply chain and clients.<\/p>\n \u201cOur strong and high-quality order book, predominantly in long-term frameworks, provides visibility and security of future workloads and continued growth prospects well beyond the current financial year.<\/p>\n \u201cOur performance over the past three years, together with our excellent people and our strong balance sheet, gives us confidence to announce our updated strategy to 2030 at a Capital Markets Event on 23 May 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The chief executive of Galliford Try has said he does not expect the Spring Budget to contain anything \u201cof great import\u201d to his company. In an interview with Construction News, Bill Hocking also said he is relaxed about which party wins the next general election but is keen to see an overhaul of the UK\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90383,"featured_media":457715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[552,533],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n