Negotiating directly with tender providers has helped Speller Metcalfe beat the downturn and achieve a £132m turnover.
The firm’s full-year results to 31 March showed improved performance, with revenue up from £112.6m in the previous year.
Its latest accounts, published on Friday (11 October), revealed that the Worcestershire-based business recorded a pre-tax profit of £1.05m, having made £273,000 in 2023.
Its statement said the figures were achieved despite “volatility in labour and material markets”.
The report said long-term relationships had been vital to getting the company through the downturn, with “a substantial part of our business secured through direct negotiation”.
Another factor was setting a target of a minimum of 70 per cent of subcontracts and material orders placed within a 30-mile radius of projects. This ensured “strong supply chains and support to the local economy”.
The firm focuses on public sector contracts including specialist health centres for NHS trusts.
It revealed that its margin, at 8.3 per cent, had dropped from 9.2 per cent in 2023.
Cash in hand was £18.6m against £12.8m last year. Net assets stood at £2.7m compared with £1.9m a year ago.
Recent contract wins include a library and adult education development in Wolverhampton, which was announced in May (pictured).
Another project was a £21m day surgery unit, which was on the ProCure23 national healthcare framework, and the firm is currently working on an £18m health diagnostic centre in Hereford – both for the same NHS trust.
Technical director Adrian Speller noted that the company had “built a strong relationship with Wye Valley Trust”.
The business is implementing a strategy that managing director James Speller announced in an interview with Construction News in 2022, in which he said Speller Metcalfe would move the firm away from operating in multiple sectors.
Also announced alongside the results was the retirement of executive director Andy Metcalfe, who co-founded the firm in 1995.
Looking ahead, the contractor warned that the industry’s skills shortage remained a challenge, and that it was supporting firms in its supply chain to alleviate the problem.
The report also revealed it had restarted a continuing professional development programme for people working in construction, having halted it during the Covid pandemic. Events featuring industry specialists have been held in Birmingham and Bristol, and the programme will in future cover regulatory changes introduced in the Building Safety Act.
“The group [is] passionate about sharing knowledge to improve the industry for all,” it said.
