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Tuesday 15th December 2009
15 December 2009
A major multi-year contract has helped Connaught to "a solid start" to the financial year with trading in line with management expectations.
A five-year £125m integrated services contract with Norwich City Council, announced today, helped boost new order intake since year-end to £312m, but down slightly from £320m in 2008.
The Norwich contract will be the first to use the full range of the group's social, environmental and compliance capabilities, a trading statement said.
Alongside the Norwich contract, further contract wins since the year-end include a four-year £28m integrated service contract with Yorkshire Housing, a five-year £25m planned works contract with Plymouth Community Housing, and for Central Networks a five-year £31m vegetation management contract.
Group well positioned for future growth with a record pipeline of £4.5bn, up from £4bn in August. The growth is "reflecting the developing scope and scale of opportunities in the market".
A cross-divisional integration programme will deliver annual savings of around £4m a year for a one-off cost of £6.8m.
The statement also said it had "strengthened its management board with the appointments of Ian Carlisle, chief executive of the compliance division and Jane Pateman, group human resources director.
Connaught continues to see "an evolution of outsourcing in the public sector, with an increasing trend towards larger bundled services contracts in local government".
The social housing division is making good progress in the delivery of the large and complex contract model, with 18 contracts won over the past 18 months.
The newly formed environmental division, bringing together the group's existing environmental business with the recently acquired Fountains plc, is now substantially integrated, with final launch of the new business in January 2010. This division has won £68m of work since the financial year-end.
Despite the anticipated upfront mobilisation costs associated with large and complex new projects, cashflow performance for the year is anticipated to be within management expectations of achieving 70 per cent operating profit to operating cash conversion.
Mark Tincknell, chairman, said that after strong organic and acquisitive growth over the last few years, "Connaught is well positioned to benefit from the anticipated once in a generation outsourcing opportunity in the public sector".
A major multi-year contract has helped Connaught to "a solid start" to the financial year with trading in line with management expectations.
A five-year £125m integrated services contract with Norwich City Council, announced today, helped boost new order intake since year-end to £312m, but down slightly from £320m in 2008.
The Norwich contract will be the first to use the full range of the group's social, environmental and compliance capabilities, a trading statement said.
Alongside the Norwich contract, further contract wins since the year-end include a four-year £28m integrated service contract with Yorkshire Housing, a five-year £25m planned works contract with Plymouth Community Housing, and for Central Networks a five-year £31m vegetation management contract.
Group well positioned for future growth with a record pipeline of £4.5bn, up from £4bn in August. The growth is "reflecting the developing scope and scale of opportunities in the market".
A cross-divisional integration programme will deliver annual savings of around £4m a year for a one-off cost of £6.8m.
The statement also said it had "strengthened its management board with the appointments of Ian Carlisle, chief executive of the compliance division and Jane Pateman, group human resources director.
Connaught continues to see "an evolution of outsourcing in the public sector, with an increasing trend towards larger bundled services contracts in local government".
The social housing division is making good progress in the delivery of the large and complex contract model, with 18 contracts won over the past 18 months.
The newly formed environmental division, bringing together the group's existing environmental business with the recently acquired Fountains plc, is now substantially integrated, with final launch of the new business in January 2010. This division has won £68m of work since the financial year-end.
Despite the anticipated upfront mobilisation costs associated with large and complex new projects, cashflow performance for the year is anticipated to be within management expectations of achieving 70 per cent operating profit to operating cash conversion.
Mark Tincknell, chairman, said that after strong organic and acquisitive growth over the last few years, "Connaught is well positioned to benefit from the anticipated once in a generation outsourcing opportunity in the public sector".