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Galliford Try has drawn a line under its woes with two cost-laden jobs in Scotland, according to the contractor鈥檚 head of construction Bill Hocking.

Reporting its annual numbers yesterday 鈥� which saw the firm take a further 拢51m hit over the two jobs after last year鈥檚 拢45m 鈥� Galliford Try said it had been told to expect 拢100m from its claims against client Transport Scotland over the Aberdeen bypass road, less than half of what it was hoping for.

Hocking said the firm wanted to avoid litigation as it sought to claw back money over the delayed Aberdeen job. It posted a 拢26m writedown on the scheme this year.

And he dismissed the suggestion that the plan to sell the group鈥檚 profitable housing and partnerships operations was a consequence of the costly Scottish jobs, which were hit by extensive periods of bad weather, notably in the north east of the country. 

He also argued the construction operation was 鈥渋n good shape whether the [housing] sale goes through or not.

鈥淭he deal with Bovis didn鈥檛 go through earlier this year because the construction operation was under-capitalised. But with the proposed 拢300m cash payment now being tabled as part of the sale we are in a good position.鈥�

There were no plans to change the name of Galliford Try, he said, despite the 鈥楾ry鈥� coming from Try Group, the housebuilding business with which the then-Galliford Group merged in 2000.

Hocking said the mission to overhaul the construction business had been 鈥渓argely completed鈥�, albeit with a few legacy issues and the loss of 300 jobs. Of these, 280 have already gone, while a further 20 staff are to be made redundant shortly.

Some 50 employees had been 鈥渞e-homed鈥� in other parts of the business, Hocking added, while the cost of the redundancies was put at 拢5m.

鈥淭he dust is still settling [on the restructuring] and there are some jobs to finish off, but we鈥檙e in a good place,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e on track a 1.1% margin and while that鈥檚 not good enough it鈥檚 not a bad position to be in in this industry.鈥�

On the vexed subject of Brexit Hocking said he was sceptical if it happened at all, but added: 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at different strategies. We鈥檙e selectively talking to clients, and in one instance materials have been brought in early and warehoused.

鈥淲e鈥檝e also put some Brexit-related clauses into some contracts. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat,鈥� he said.

Hocking said the construction arm had 90% of next year鈥檚 revenue in hand, and 54% for the year after that.

Yesterday Galliford Try reported turnover of 拢2.9bn for the year to the end of June 2019, down from 拢3.1bn in 2018, and pre-exceptional pre-tax profit of 拢156m, down 17%.