Market conditions for M&E firms improving, says T Clarke

Market conditions for M&E contractors have improved over the last three months, T Clarke has said.

In a trading update to investors this morning, T Clarke said it traded in line with market expectations in the period since it issued a profit warning in October.

T Clarke said market conditions had been boosted by “London opportunities in particular” and that the firm’s recent contract wins, including a £75m haul announced in November, “underpin the confidence which we see returning to our markets”.

T Clarke said it had experienced a “challenging year”, adding that it is keeping “a particular focus on closing out projects let during the recession to secure acceptable returns.”

However, the contractor confirmed it ended the year with an improved cash position up to £4m from £1m at the end of 2013.

The company said the improvement is reflective of its normal cash collection cycle, but it also views the performance as a sign of positive trends in its underlying performance.

The group also confirmed that its order book exceeded £300m, up from £250m at the end of 2013.

T Clarke will report preliminary full-year results for the year to 31 December 2014 in March.

T Clarke expects to make underlying pre-tax profit for the year of between £0.5m and £1m, as announced in October.

Shares for T Clarke were up 7.51% to 68.54 pence on Thursday morning.