Turnover and profit remain stable at Stepnell

Stepnell has reported small rises in turnover and pre-tax profit for the year to 31 March, in documents posted with Companies House yesterday (12 September).

Revenue from construction contracts held by the Rugby-based firm rose from £90.5m to £93.7m, marking a 3.5 per cent year-on-year increase.

Pre-tax profit also ticked up slightly, with growth of 1.6 per cent from £1.25m to £1.27m. This delivered a slightly lower margin of 1.35 per cent compared with 1.38 per cent the previous year.

This stability was achieved despite a “challenging” business climate in 2022/23, director and company secretary Thomas Wakeford noted in the strategic report that accompanied the accounts.

He added: “The effects of the Ukraine conflict, escalating energy costs, consequential effects of Brexit, uncontrolled rising inflation and the impact of an increase in base [interest] rates have all served to slow the progress of planned projects reaching site, and adversely affected project budgets.”

As a result, he said, Stepnell adopted a more selective approach to bidding for work by “declining opportunities that do not fit our criteria to trade”.

The firm took on almost £100m of additional net current liabilities, ending the financial year at £2.1m, but its net assets grew from £17.4m to £18.5m.

Headcount remained relatively stable, with an average monthly number of 311 employees compared with 313 the previous year.

Looking ahead, Wakeford noted that Stepnell had already secured contracts in excess of 80 per cent of the firm’s predicted budget for 2023/24. He cited wins with SCAPE and the Southern Construction Framework as “adding to our ever-growing presence on the construction industry’s most relevant frameworks”.

Last week, Stepnell was among the 87 contractors appointed to the £8bn public-sector Procure Partnerships Framework.