好色先生TV

Mark Andrews, the chief executive of NG Bailey, is in two minds about the company鈥檚 performance last year, writes Tom Bill.

On the plus side, the M&E specialist, which has a growing professional services arm, boosted turnover by 14% from 拢525m to 拢600m.

The bottom line makes for more awkward reading: it shows a 拢10.8m loss compared with a pre-tax profit of 拢8m the previous year. Andrews partly blames accounting rules for this and is concerned that the headlines may not tell the whole story. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a frustrating set of numbers,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 hard to take is that the profit depicts a much worse picture than is there.鈥�

He has a point, although he isn鈥檛 trying to convince anyone that the company will have an easy ride over the next few years.

Three accounting factors pushed the company into the red for the year to 27 February 2009, including a 拢12.1m loss on its investments in the equity and bond markets.

Then there was a 拢5.8m top-up to the pension fund, which had gone from a surplus of 拢6.3m to a net deficit of 拢20.9m under new and more transparent accounting rules.

Add to that a 拢7.9m goodwill writedown on acquisitions, including a 拢5.6m hit on the 拢8.5m purchase of telecom firm Teswaine Business Communications in November 2004, and you can see why Andrews feels the need to attach so many riders to his summary.

Mark Andrews

But there were self-inflicted injuries too, one of which was in the Scottish arm of its 拢500m-turnover building services division. Andrews says: 鈥淲e had a handful of school jobs where the responsibility and scope were not properly recognised. There was a writedown of a couple of million quid. It was an own goal.鈥�

Another own goal, he concedes, was not keeping close enough tabs on the Bailey Maintenance operation, which he says took on jobs 鈥渁t levels where you couldn鈥檛 make money鈥�. Most of the management team there has since been replaced.

And the global financial meltdown played its part; Bailey was three weeks into a job for Bear Stearns when the bank collapsed and deprived it of 拢7m.

But does he regret not going into the Middle East when times were good to help balance things up? Not that he鈥檒l admit to. 鈥淎nybody that thinks the Middle East is a Nirvana that is counter-cyclical to the UK is deluding themselves.鈥�

The good news is that the company ended the year with 拢76m in the bank. Although the controlling Bailey family were not thrilled with the loss, they were able to take a longer-term view than the shareholders of a plc.

There were also positive signs at the rail business, which Andrews hopes will double in turnover to 拢50m in two years, and the firm鈥檚 off-site building services doubled to 拢10.1m.

Figures for this year are more difficult to predict and Andrews says he鈥檒l be pleased if turnover stays above 拢500m. He says: 鈥淭he Learning and Skills Council (LSC) debacle shows how difficult projections are. We were lined up to work on half a dozen colleges when the plug got pulled.鈥�

As a result of the drop in work, the firm has cut staff from about 3,990 to 3,600 since the start of the year and put a handful of people onto a four-day week.

He says he鈥檇 love to see the LSC work restart but is gloomy about the bigger picture. 鈥淭his industry needs capital expenditure to keep going but it will keep getting throttled. If the Tories get in, the concern is that they鈥檒l throttle things faster.鈥�

As the boss of a private firm, it鈥檚 the kind of concern Andrews can air in public while those in charge of plcs can only whisper in private.