Beneath the headline rankings of the top 150 contracting and housebuilding firms in the sector, there are more complex stories to tell based on turnover, profit and margins. Here we unpack the figures in more detail

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Today Building publishes its exclusive and sortable Top 150 Contractors & Housebuilders table, which ranks companies by turnover. 

H&C TOP 150

The dataset, compiled from companies’ most recent published accounts, also provides details of profit, staffing and margins, as well as including sectoral breakdowns.

But what does the data tell us about the current state of the housebuilding and contracting markets? And which companies have posted high levels of growth and why?

We decided to dig a bit deeper into the data to uncover some underlying trends.

Turnover

The topline figure for turnover shows a tightening of income at the top 150 contractors and housebuilders.

The top 150 companies generated a combined £118.4bn in firms’ most recent reporting year – which for the vast majority has a year end in 2023 or 2024.

>> Top 150 Housebuilders and Contractors 2024: the full table

This figure, which includes housebuilders and contractors, is 2% up on the previous year.

While this 2% increase is, on the face of it, positive, the previous year’s annual rise was 9% – albeit from a slightly different group of companies – suggesting a slowdown in the rate of growth.

The turnover increase also masks differences between contracting and housebuilding markets.

While contractors increased their aggregated turnover by 8%, housebuilders’ revenue fell by 10%. Indeed, 10 out of the top 13 biggest drops in revenue came from housebuilders.

Rankings and turnover: risers and fallers*

Biggest risers in the table

CompanyMain activitiesLatest rankPrevious rankIncrease (places)
Gratte Brothers M&E contractor 103 144 41
Abbey Developments Housebuilder 82 122 40
Galliard Housebuilder and commercial developer 96 130 34
SDC Builders Building contractor, mainly in education and industrial 100 132 32
Henmead Contracting, property, FM 98 127 29

Purely in terms of Top 150 ranking places, Gratte Brothers was this year’s fastest riser, jumping 41 places up the table this year from 144th to 103rd. The London-based M&E contractor increased its income by three-quarters, from £124.6m to £219.6m. The company, which said it exceeded revenue growth expectations in the year, attributed the increase to “phasing of projects under way in the prior year as well as notable successes in technology works”.

Galliard rose 34 places to enter the top 100, in 96th place. The housebuilder in its accounts cited several factors behind its 40% growth in revenue. It said its construction activity in the year was greater than in the previous year and it generated more income from outside the group. It also said that while it completed fewer homes, the units sold were for higher revenue and it received a higher share of joint ventures building homes. Galliard did, however, make a pre-tax loss of £11.3m in the year, which it put down to fluctuations caused by the group’s varied activity.

SDC Builders and Henmead complete the top five risers, jumping 32 and 29 places respectively.

Looking at the top of the table, Balfour Beatty retained its position as number one. Several other big names jumped a few places up the rankings, with Mitie and Laing O’Rourke rising two places to second and four places to third respectively.

The biggest fall in the rankings belongs to Scottish contractor and housebuilder Cruden, which dropped 48 places to 96th. It said in its accounts that the drop in turnover was due to its decision to concentrate on land-led opportunities and partnership working and to reduce its reliance on competitively tendered projects.

Other big fallers include Telford Homes (which dropped 42 places to 86th) and contractor TSL (28 places to 55th). The latter said its turnover drop was due to focusing on contracts with “margin growth” as opposed to pure turnover growth.

Five biggest rises in turnover (£k)

CompanyMain activitiesLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Increase (£k)(% change)
Vistry Group Housebuilding partnerships 4,042,100 3,115,100 927,000 30%
Laing O’Rourke Contracting and associated business 4,327,400 3,604,700 722,700 20%
Balfour Beatty Group Contracting, PFI/PPP, support sevices (FM) 9,595,000 8,931,000 664,000 7%
Kier Group Contracting, FM, property development. 3,969,400 3,405,400 564,000 17%
Morgan Sindall Contracting, fit-out, development, public housing R&M 4,117,700 3,612,000 505,700 14%

Five biggest rises in turnover (%)*

CompanyMain activitiesLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Increase (£k) (% change)
Curo Construction Commerical new-build/fit-out 158,810 76,959 81,851 106
Gratte Brothers M&E contractor 219,642 124,636 95,006 76
Reds10 Modular construction specialists 142,533 83,788 58,745 70
Abbey Developments Housebuilder 296,736 175,188 121,548 69
JN Bentley Civil engineering and construction company 388,340 263,469 124,871 47

*excludes Hill Holdings because its reporting period changed year on year

Few housebuilders have garnered as many column inches in the past couple of years as Vistry. And the company, which has pivoted towards a partnerships model – in which a housebuilder works to build homes for long-term investors including affordable housing providers, often through large portfolio deals – posted the largest increase in revenue in terms of monetary amount.

It increased its revenue by nearly £1bn in 2022/23. The 30% rise from £3.1bn to £4bn came on the back of what Vistry described as “robust demand” from registered providers. The housebuilder – which is on track to unseat Barratt as the biggest builder in terms of volume this year – has, however, recently issued two profit warnings following build cost underestimates, but has also said its forward order book has increased.

Another firm that has had issues with losses in recent years is Laing O’Rourke. The company not only returned to profit in the year to 31 March 2024, it also increased its turnover by £722.7m and increased its order book from £6.6bn to £7.6bn. It said this high level was partly driven by its work as a strategic supplier to government on hospitals and infrastructure.

Balfour Beatty posted strong growth of £664m, followed by Kier (£564m) and Morgan Sindall (£506m). An honourable mention should go to Mace, which increased its earnings by £464m (25%) to £2.4bn with 60 projects won in the year to December 2023.

When it comes to the highest percentage growth, Curo Construction came out top, doubling its turnover from £77m to £158.9m in the year to 30 September 2023. The contractor, which operates primarily in London and the South-east, said in June that it had already secured projects for £100m of turnover for the latest financial year.

Offsite specialist Reds10 increased its revenue by 70%, from £83.8m to £142.5m for the year to March 2024. In its accounts it said the growth was due to a combination of new business and increased turnover with existing clients, and it forecasts revenue to be around £150m in the current year.

JN Bentley, a Mott MacDonald-owned civil engineering construction firm that mainly operates in the water industry, increased its turnover by 47% to £388.3m, citing a “significant amount of work” released late in the Asset Management Plan cycle.

Fallers

When it comes to those posting the largest drops in turnover, the lack of activity in the housing market over the past few years really comes to the fore.

The largest drops in monetary terms are Barratt, which saw a drop in turnover of £1.2bn, followed by fellow housebuilders Persimmon (£1bn), Bellway (£1bn), and Taylor Wimpey (£685m) in second, third and fourth place respectively. Crest Nicholson, which entered advanced merger talks with Bellway in the summer, was eight on the list with a drop of £256m.

Since the accounts were published Barratt has merged with Redrow, while Taylor Wimpey last month said its order book has increased from £1.9bn to £2.2bn year-on-year.

Jason Honeyman, chief executive of Bellway, said: “Against an improving backdrop, the combination of our strong landbank, healthy forward order book and work-in-progress position provides Bellway with an excellent platform to build on its proven track record of organic volume growth in the current financial year and beyond.”

Sector-specific activity

Five biggest increases in housebuilder turnover (%)*

CompanyLatest (£k)PreviousChange (£k)Change (%)
Abbey Developments 296,736 175,188 121,548 69
Galliard Homes 234,490 167,120 67,370 40
Chartway 157,421 115,508 41,913 36
Vistry Group 4,042,100 3,115,100 927,000 30
St Modwen Homes 371,354 312,802 58,552 19

Five biggest increases in housebuilder turnover (£k)*

CompanyLatest (£k)PreviousChange (£k)Change (%)
Vistry Group 4,042,100 3,115,100 927,000 30
Abbey Developments 296,736 175,188 121,548 69
Keepmoat Homes 864,600 778,100 86,500 11
Galliard 234,490 167,120 67,370 40
St Modwen Homes 371,354 312,802 58,552 19

*excludes Hill Holdings because its reporting period had changed 

Five biggest increases in contractor turnover (%)

CompanyLatest (£k)PreviousChange (£k)Change (%)
Curo Construction 158,810 76,959 81,851 106
Gratte Brothers 219,642 124,636 95,006 76
Reds10 142,533 83,788 58,745 70
JN Bentley 388,340 263,469 124,871 47
Jones Ruthin 166,053 113,708 52,345 46
   Five biggest increases in contractor turnover (£k)
 LatestPreviousChange (£k)Change (%)
Laing O’Rourke 4,327,400 3,604,700 722,700 20
Balfour Beatty Group 9,595,000 8,931,000 664,000 7
Kier Group 3,969,400 3,405,400 564,000 17
Morgan Sindall 4,117,700 3,612,000 505,700 14
Mace 2,356,792 1,892,583 464,209 25

Newcomers

The following firms were in this year’s top 150 but were not in last year’s:

NewcomersPosition
Curo Construction 130
Reds10 140
Jones Ruthin 126
John F Hunt 134
Van Oord 136
Chartway 132
Tilbury Douglas 52
Speller Metcalfe 143
Collins 138
Robertson Residential 133

Profit

While the top 150 data showed a slowdown in revenue growth, when it comes to pre-tax profit, it hasn’t just slowed – it has plummeted.

The overall pre-tax profit of the top 150 has fallen 31%, with more than half (52%) of the companies reporting a drop.

Made with Flourish

Once again housebuilders have fared worse than contractors, with a combined pre-tax profit drop of 44% and 82% reporting less profit this year compared with last.

The construction operating profit of the contractors to supply figures fell by 9% year-on-year. 

Profit: risers and fallers

When looking at the firms that have improved profitability there are various ways one might look at it.

The simplest is to look at the improvement, in monetary value, in the profit and loss account. This year, of the firms with the five biggest increases in the profit and loss account, three still posted a loss.

Five biggest increases to profit and loss account (£)

CompanyLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Change (£k)Change (%)
Laing O’Rourke 18,100 -288,100 306,200 106
Telford Homes -39,914 -192,615 152,701 79
Tilbury Douglas 5824 -93,981 99,805 106
Equans Regeneration -38,897 -135,651 96,754 71
Lend Lease Europe -134,269 -230,393 96,124 42

The biggest positive gain was Laing O’Rourke, which moved from a huge loss of £288.1m in 2023 to an annual profit of £18.1m this year.

The contractor had previously run into problems on several high-profile jobs and has increasingly moved into negotiated jobs such as frameworks and public sector deals rather than single-stage, lump sum work. It has also tightened overheads.

Telford Homes made a loss of 39.9m for the year to December 2023, but this was £152m better off than the £192.6m loss it made the previous year, as the housebuilder battled building safety costs and coped with expenditure relating to the delayed refurbishment of the grade-II* listed Balfron Tower in east London.

Equans Regeneration and Lend Lease Europe both improved their position but remained in loss, whereas Tilbury Douglas inched back into the black by £5.8m.

However, excluding companies that were loss-making in either of the past two years (in other words, looking solely at profitable companies that have increased the amount they made year-on-year) enables us to identify other companies that have posted strong growth.

Five biggest increases in pre-tax profit (£k)*

CompanyLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Change (£k)Change (%)
Keller 125,600 56,300 69,300 123
Morgan Sindall 143,900 85,500 58,400 68
Mitie 156,300 105,500 50,800 48
Mace 61,674 36,667 25,007 68
J Murphy 66,836 44,576 22,260 50

*excludes contractors that made a loss in either year

Ground engineering firm Keller increased its pre-tax profit by £69.3m to £125.6m, while Morgan Sindall increased its profit by £58.4m to £143.9m. The latter saw its fit-out, construction and infrastructure divisions all increase profit and turnover.

Five biggest increases in pre-tax profit (%)*

CompanyLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Change (£k)Change (%)
Speller Metcalfe 1,055 274 781 285
Galliford Try 30,900 10,100 20,800 206
Multiplex 31,048 11,066 19,982 181
Glencar Construction 2,182 809 1,373 170
Mount Anvil 16,913 6,291 10,622 169

*excludes contractors who made a loss in either year

When it comes to percentage increases in pre-tax profit, family-owned Speller Metcalfe topped the list, increasing its pre-tax profit from £273,000 to more than £1m. The firm, which operates in a number of sectors, said it focuses on frameworks and identifying clients with multiple opportunities to “create a sustainable pipeline” of work.

Galliford Try tripled its annual pre-tax profit from £10.1m to £30.9m, which it said reflected “organic and acquisitive growth”.

The company won work worth £889m in the year to 30 June 2024 and in November 2023 acquired mechanical and electrical engineering specialist ACRS systems for £4.5m.

Other firms reporting strong percentage growth in pre-tax profit include Multiplex (181% growth), Glencar Construction (170%) and housebuilder Mount Anvil (169%).

Fallers

The biggest percentage drop in pre-tax profit was Fairview which made a loss of £27.6m in the year to December 2023, compared with a profit of £940,000 the previous year. The housebuilder’s income dropped 30% year-on-year and it also had to set aside £26.3m bill on fire safety remediation works relating to legacy projects.

McAlpine (filed as Newarthill) made a pre-tax loss of £102.6m in the year to October 2023, compared with a £4.8m profit the year before. The firm blamed four problem jobs and restructuring costs. Leighton More, chief financial offer, said in the summer: “The company had four contracts where the financial position was reassessed in the year and write downs made. The underlying causes were in the main due to the performance of our supply chain partners and the delivery of legacy projects in sectors which no longer fit our strategic direction.” Cladding firm Permasteelisa made a loss of £11.1m, compared with a £994,000 profit the previous year. It said “increased execution costs for some complex projects in the UK have led to a reduction in margins”.

The largest fallers in monetary terms were again the large housebuilders, Persimmon (a decrease of £660.5m), Barratt (£534.6m), Taylor Wimpey (£354.1m) and Bellway (£299.3m).

Sector-specific activity

Five biggest increases in housing operating profit (%)*

CompanyLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Change (£k)Change (%)
Mount Anvil 18,481 6,617 11,864 179
Chartway Group 16,488 8,611 7,877 91
Castle Green Homes 12,207 6,613 5,594 85
McTaggart Group 4,882 2,961 1,921 65
Springfield Properties 17,010 15,698 1,312 8

*excludes housebuilders who made a loss in either year

Five biggest increases in housing operating profit (£k)

CompanyLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Change (£k)
Telford Homes -39,158 -191,230 152,072
Vistry 487,900 451,100 36,800
Mount Anvil 18,481 6,617 11,864
Chartway Group 16,488 8,611 7,877
Castle Green Homes 12,207 6,613 5,594

Five biggest increases in contracting operating profit (%)*

CompanyLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Change (£k)Change (%)
JN Bentley 6,478 1,113 5,365 482
M Lambe Construction 6,094 1,729 4,365 252
Curo Construction 4,457 1,837 2,620 143
Novus Property Solutions 1,600 774 826 107
Caddick Group 4,137 2,139 1998 93

*excludes contractors who made a loss in either year

Five biggest increases in contracting operating profit £k

CompanyLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Change (£k)
Laing O’Rourke 39,700 -78,800 118,500
Equans Regeneration -35,987 -113,092 77,105
Keller 153,600 108,600 45,000
J Murphy Group 71,732 45,657 26,075
Carter 10,359 -5,096 15,455

 

Pre-tax margin

With turnover growth slowing and pre-tax profit falling, it is not surprising that pre-tax margins are also down.

The average pre-tax margin among firms to supply the figures in the top 150 was 2.2%, down 1.7% on the 3.8% for last year. 

Contractors’ pre-tax margins dipped but only slightly, from 1.3% to 1.2%, while yet again, housebuilders fell further from 10.8% to 5%. 

Margins

The largest pre-tax margin increase belonged to Telford Homes. 

Other firms to substantially increase their pre-tax margin position include Tilbury Douglas,  which improved its margin by 24.3 percentage points after receiving a £7.4m tax credit. 

Seddon Group and Erith  also both moved their pre-tax margin into positive territory.

CompanyLatest (£k)Previous (£k)Change (% point)
Telford Homes -24.2 -65 40.8
Tilbury Douglas 1.1 -23.2 24.3
Seddon Group 2.8 -9.2 12
Equans Regeneration -4.3 -14.6 10.4
Erith 2.3 -6.6 8.9

The fims with the largest decrease in pre-tax margin by percentage point were Nyetimber Finco (formerly Network Plus), which saw its margin decrease from 4.4 to -16.9, and housebuilder London Square, which decreased from 7.9 to -11.2. The latter cited inflation and interest rate volatility, along with uncertainty around planning and building regulation as impacting the business.

 

 

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