Civil engineering contractor Barhale’s annual bank interest charges have increased from £280,000 to £401,000 in the past year.
The target now is to eliminate all borrowing by December 2024 when its existing asset based lending facility is due for renewal, the company disclosed in its annual report.
For the year to 30th June 2023, Barhale Holdings reported turnover up 22% at £133.1m (2022: £109.0m) and pre-tax profit up 40% at £3.1m (2022 £2.2m).
Most of the revenue (£125m) came from contracting services, with £8m from the sale and hire of construction plant and consumables.
Executive director Andy Flowerday said the revenue growth was down to long-term water industry framework contracts starting to move into action.
“By continuing to adhere to our strategy of focusing on our core capabilities and working collaboratively with our long-term clients, we were able to deliver a profit in line with expectations and in line with our strategic plan,” he writes in the annual report. “This was achieved despite a challenging economic background of rising construction costs and an overheated labour market.”
Andy Flowerday continued: “Construction costs, and particular steel and aggregate prices, seem to be stabilising and labour rates less influence by the exceptional demand of large UK infrastructure projects such as HS2.”
At 30th June 2023 the group had net cash of £3.9, compared to £3.0m a year before. The order book stood at £886m.
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