Turner & Townsend turnover rises 34% as it buys Middle East firm

Turner & Townsend has revealed strong financial results due to global growth, including the acquisition of a firm in the Middle East.

Turnover has jumped 34% to £134m for 2005. The firm’s profit for the year was £15.7m, according to the results, revealed last week on the QS News website. The previous year T&T made £10.6m profit on a £100m turnover.

Chairman Tim Wray put the performance down to growth in all geographical regions. His latest international move was the acquisition of a QS company in Dubai, Cost Partnership Gulf, at the beginning of the year. The firm then had a turnover just shy of £1m and employed five British QSs.

Turner & Townsend has since moved 10 project managers to CPG, which has taken on its new parent’s name. The Dubai operation’s projects include a roll-out for Nissan. In China the firm is working on an office for Siemens in Shanghai.

We are making provisions to knock down the pension deficit
Tim Wray, chairman, T&T

The global business is also developing in Ireland, where T& T has just won a role on the Dublin Metro project. The firm will provide cost management, project management and PPP procurement advice on the €2bn (£1.35bn) Metro North scheme. This section of subway will link the city, airport and town of Swords.

Within the UK the firm has been appointed cost consultant on the £420m King Cross revamp, plus a £400m project for Imperial College London (see table).

Turner & Townsend’s results show it has a pension deficit of £4.7m. Wray played down the deficit, pointing to £17m of cash on the company’s balance sheet. He said: “We are making provisions to knock down the deficit.” In 1991, T&T closed its final salary pension fund, also known as a defined benefit scheme. Final salary pensions are more risky for employers as they guarantee employees will get a proportion of their salary when they retire. T&T now offers new joiners a money purchase scheme, which pays members based on the stock market performance of the pension fund’s investments.

The firm employs around 1,750 staff worldwide and became an LLP in May 2005.