Chief executive plans to gain half of turnover from nuclear, rail, water and land remediation by 2012

Brian May, chief executive of Renew Holdings, has said its specialist engineering arm will account for half of group turnover by 2012.

In a shift of priorities, May (pictured) said the arm had the biggest potential for growth after its building division suffered in the recession.

The company said: 鈥淥ur aim is to increase revenue in specialist engineering both organically and by acquisition, while maintaining operating margins in the target range of 3% to 4%.鈥

Brian May, chief executive of Renew Holdings

Brian May

Chief executive of Renew Holdings

The division covers the nuclear, rail, water and land remediation sectors and its turnover grew 23% from 拢93.3m to 拢114.8m in the year to 30 September 2009.

It accounts for 36% of group revenue compared with 24% last year. May said: 鈥淚t gives us protection against what is happening elsewhere.鈥

Overall turnover at the company fell 19% from 拢390.6m to 拢316.6m, which was largely due to the weaker performance of its specialist building division, which covers education and the high-end residential refurbishment market. The arm鈥檚 turnover fell by almost a third from 拢294.6m to 拢202.4m.

Pre-tax profit at the group fell 18% from 拢6.7m to 拢4.9m but after one-off items, which included 拢2.2m of redundancy costs, the profit figure was down 83% to 拢1.2m.

Renew made 300 redundancies at its building division owing to the fall-off in work, leaving its overall staff level at 1,200.

Along with other contractors that include Galliford Try, Kier and ISG, Renew said it would appeal against a 拢3.5m fine issued by the OFT in relation to its cover pricing probe.

A snapshot of Renew

Nuclear: 鈥淲e鈥檙e on five facilities that account for 59% of an 拢8.4bn spend programme. It鈥檚 a nice market鈥
Water: 鈥淲e鈥檙e strong in flood alleviation鈥
Rail: 鈥淲e鈥檝e broadened our activity to work with eight clients鈥
Social housing: 鈥淲e鈥檙e confident in the medium term鈥
Specialist refurb: 鈥淚t has fallen a bit but our experience in basement excavation is key鈥