Contractor hit by tax dispute and weaker margins
Ardmore has slumped to a 拢12m pre-tax loss in full-year results to September 2015, after being struck by two exceptional items.
The loss, disclosed in accounts filed at Companies House, was up from a 拢5.7m pre-tax loss the previous year.
Turnover 鈥� which will be boosted by the 拢170m Ram Brewery job (pictured) it picked up from Kier this month 鈥� was down by almost 10% to 拢218.5m.
Ardmore blamed the loss on the two exceptional items and weaker margins, saying its gross margin fell by one percentage point to 3.6% as contracts awarded in 鈥渁 time of difficult market conditions were delivered in times of rising costs.鈥�
The two exceptional items reported in the firm鈥檚 2015 results were a 拢1.1m hit on the sale of a Midlands industrial unit, and a further 拢5.6m in losses after settling a tax claim with HMRC over option awards granted in 2005, which was settled after 鈥渟ome protracted negotiations鈥�.
It also said turnover was down due to its focus on winning work on improved margins rather than driving growth in turnover and limiting exposure to legacy contracts.
Ardmore said its order book for 2016 was 100% secured with 70% of its order book in 2017 also secured.
In its outlook, the firm said it has challenges in 鈥渃ontrolling overheads and establishing a reliable and robust supply chain鈥� but added that it is 鈥渋ncreasingly optimistic about the coming years鈥� as its negotiates contracts at 鈥渕ore sustainable margins鈥�.
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