Morgan said the group needed to integrate the three purchases it made in 2001 before looking for further acquisitions. He said: 鈥淲e had a busy year last year and we couldn鈥檛 keep that up even if we wanted to. While you can never say never, we鈥檙e going to be very boring this year.鈥�
Morgan Sindall last year added Carillion鈥檚 social housing business to its affordable housing arm. It also established an infrastructure division, Morgan Est, after acquiring Miller鈥檚 civil engineering arm and Pipeline Constructors. The group spent 拢42.7m on the acquisitions last year.
Morgan said the group was now established in its four target markets: social housing, civil engineering, regional construction and fit-out. He said: 鈥淟ast year was important to us because, thanks to the buys, we are now in the four markets we want. This year will be about building on all of that.鈥�
Morgan was commenting as the group posted a record profit for the seventh consecutive year.
Pre-tax profit jumped 35% to 拢20.8m in the year to 31 December compared with 2000. Turnover has increased 39% from 拢655m in 2000 to 拢909m. The order booked topped 拢1bn for the first time. Morgan said building his firm鈥檚 public sector work through last year鈥檚 acquisitions had been important.
鈥淎ll three acquisitions were aimed at increasing our public sector work which is more stable and vibrant than the private sector.鈥�
The regional contracting division, now called Bluestone, continued to struggle last year. Operating profit fell 拢500,000 to 拢4m, compared with 2000, even though turnover rose from 拢318m to 拢403m. Margins are 1%.
Morgan Sindall has axed the six regional brands to create the single national Bluestone name in an attempt to improve performance.
Morgan said: 鈥淲e bought some loss-making regional contracting businesses and ran them as separate companies.
鈥淭he margins haven鈥檛 improved enough so we are bringing them all together.鈥�
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