Second 9.5% rise due in July

Brickwork firm Michelmersh has said it will be introducing another 9.5% price rise this summer to deal with soaring energy costs.

The firm hiked prices by the same amount in January and has already told customers another rise is on the way this July.

Joint chief executive Frank Hanna said: 鈥淓nergy prices have yet to settle, everything is in a state of flux. It should in theory improve and we have been through this before. But you can鈥檛 legislate for world events and things happen [such as Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine] that affect energy prices.鈥�

Hobhouse Court, London

Michelmersh worked on the office and residential Hobhouse Court building next to the National Gallery in central London

The firm said demand was strong from its core RMI and social housing markets while commercial work was also coming back from the hit it took during the pandemic.

Hanna added: 鈥淲e are dealing with architects and designers and there鈥檚 a lot of nice schemes about. But it鈥檚 difficult to get a clearer picture of commercial over the next 24 months. We鈥檒l have to see how the change in working practices washes through.鈥�

Yesterday the firm said revenue was back above pre-pandemic levels with the company posting income of close to 拢60m last year.

The AIM-listed business said its turnover of 拢59.5m was up 11% on 2019鈥檚 figure and 14% more than the lockdown-affected 2020. Pre-tax profit last year was up 41% to 拢9.7m although the number was still nearly 7% down on the 拢10.4m it posted in 2019.

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