Sale confirmed as firm unveils solid financial results with pre-tax profit up 10% and turnover up 4%

GB Group has completed the sale of one of the world’s most historic football stadiums, the 140-year-old Saltergate stadium in Chesterfield, to Barratt Homes.

The developer-contractor - which took control of the Saltergate site three years ago as part of a deal to build Chesterfield FC’s new 10,600 capacity B2net stadium - sold the site to Barratt for an undisclosed sum before Christmas.

There are signs that demand [for solar] will hold up. We believe there will be some pay back

Martin Smout, GB Building

GB Group confirmed the sale to Building as it unveiled solid results for the financial year to 30 June 2011, with profit and turnover both up on the previous year.

Turnover at the group rose 4% from £125.1m to £130.1m, while pre-tax profit rose 10% from £186,000 to £204,000.

Turnover and pre-tax profit did similarly well at the firm’s building arm GB Building Solutions, the results of which do not take into account the company’s development investments.

Turnover grew from £125m to £125.9m at GB Building Solutions, while pre-tax profit grew from £428,000 to £440,000.

GB Building Group’s chief executive Martin Smout told Building the solid performance reflected the company’s efforts to restructure the business away from pure contracting.

Smout said the outlook also looked positive for the group’s six-month-old renewable energy division, which is on course to turnover £6-7m in its first financial year.

He added demand for solar was showing signs of holding up, despite the recent cut in the feed-in tariff.

He said: “There are signs that demand will hold up. With falling prices [from suppliers] we believe there will still be pay back over 10 years. We’re going through the sums with clients.”

But Smout said the main areas of growth for the business would be in its care and development businesses.

The group acquired consultant Aston Care to further develop its expertise in this area two years ago.

The group’s development arm is developing five sites in all sectors in total.

Smout said he was pleased the group had secured another contract for the University of Bradford following the successful completion of student halls, The Green, which was awarded the highest ever “outstanding” BREEAM rating in the world of 95.05%.

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