Styles & Wood posts profit rise, despite sales slide

Styles & Wood last year posted annual pre-tax profits up 26.8% to £4.1m, despite a 9% fall in overall revenues.

The property services and fit-out group posted revenues of £104.7m in the year to the end of December last year, down 8.94% on 2015.

But the firm managed to boost profits, thanks to what it called “the increasingly specialist and technical nature of project work undertaken by the group”, the move into facility services through the Keysource acquisition, and a programme to eke out greater efficiencies and cut costs.

Gross margins rose by three percentage points to 12.3%, while Style & Wood said the top line was weaker due to the deferral of project and programme work into 2017.

Tony Lenehan, Styles & Wood’s chief executive, said he was pleased to have been able to carry forward the momentum generated in 2015 to deliver underlying profit improvements, “as our selective approach to new business opportunities and cross-sector diversification continues to benefit the group”.

He went on: “Additionally, we have made significant progress with our diversification strategy. The acquisitions of Keysource and, post-period the GDM Group, further broaden our service line capabilities and reinforce our differentiated position within our core markets.”