Restructuring and pension costs send Tilbury Douglas into red

Restructuring costs and the amount spent dealing with its pension scheme sent Tilbury Douglas sinking to a £94m loss last year.

The firm was separated out of parent Interserve Group to become a standalone business last summer, months after Kier ended takeover talks for the company.

In accounts filed at Companies House, Tilbury Douglas said £14.7m spent on restructuring along with an £86.4m cost associated with a third-party buyout of its legacy pension scheme sent it tumbling into the red from an £11.2m pre-tax profit in 2021.

It made an underlying pre-tax profit of £7.4m on turnover down 14% to £405m.

But the firm, which carries out regional building, fit-out and M&E work, is expecting this to increase to around £530m this year with its order book at the end of last year standing at £1.2bn, up from £844m at the end of 2021.

In a note accompanying the accounts, chairman, former Balfour Beatty UK construction boss Nick Pollard, said “our directors view the future with enthusiasm and great confidence”, adding the firm would turn in a profit this year.

Tilbury Douglas rebranded to its historic name in March 2021, 20 years after ditching the marque.

The name, which dates back to 1884, was dropped in favour of Interserve as the firm pushed more into the support services sector, such as FM, and away from its historic construction roots.

It went into administration in March 2019 and has since seen its support services business sold to Mitie for £105m and equipment business RMD Kwikform offloaded for £148m to French firm Altrad.

It has also sold several other parts of the company including its oil and gas business, an overseas civil engineering firm which operated in the Middle East, a healthcare business and returned a deal with the Ministry of Justice to public ownership.