Cyril Sweett reveals order book is now mainly international

Cyril Sweett’s order book has dramatically shifted away from the UK to its international operations.

In a trading update to the City this morning the QS said that 57% of its order book is now from outside Europe.

This marks a significant change from the revenue split over the last year, when around 60% of revenue came from Europe – the vast majority down to business in the UK – and 40% came from outside Europe.

The group said this was in part down to the integration of Widnell, the third largest QS in the Asia Pacific region, which Cyril Sweett bought in July 2010.

“A pleasing aspect of the year has been the significant progress that has been made in growing the group’s international order book, thereby reducing its longer term exposure to any single market,” it said.

The overall order book was up £1m to £79m compared to the end of September last year.

“The group has continued to deliver a robust financial performance as a result of the increasingly diverse nature of its operations. As a consequence the profit before tax and exceptional items for the full year is expected to be in line with market expectations,” it said.

“The UK business has proved particularly resilient in challenging market conditions, the Middle East has made a positive contribution despite the political backdrop and Asia Pacific continues to enhance the group’s international profits.”

However it added that it would suffer from exceptional costs in preliminary results released on 4 July, because it had “maintained its prudent approach to operational costs”.