Commercial March 2018

Now that we have completed our financial year for 2017/18 and are at the start of our new economic year, we can not only look back over the past year at what we have achieved, but also take the opportunity to look forward at what we hope to accomplish over the forthcoming 12months.

2017-2018 was certainly a busy year where as a company we not only achieved what we planned in terms of turnover, but also replaced completed works and strengthened our current order book with new contracts, all of which are from within our existing client base.

At the beginning of 2017 we started the year with around £48m of work left on our order book and I am pleased to say that following all the work we have completed over the last 12months, we are starting 2018 with £48m on the order book. This has been achieved through the securing of new works over the last 12months at Didcot, Upper Heyford, Bicester, Wallingford, Carterton & Cawston.

All the new work we have secured over the last 12months has been from our existing base.

This demonstrates the strength of the relationships we have built with our clients, but also and more importantly the confidence they have with Agetur and the work we do.

What potential does the year ahead hold?

In terms of turnover we are looking at an increase on last year, however we do not anticipate that this will be dramatic, more of a considered progression alongside our clients, as they look to increase their build rates as compared to last year.

Potential new work anticipated over the coming months is again all from existing clients with new phases potentially coming on stream at Didcot, Upper Heyford, potential new sites at Stadhampton, Milton Keynes, Cawston, and later in the year Eynsham and Valley Park. Thus, we can see the importance of us maintaining the sound working relationships we have both with the offices and on the sites.

As a business it is vitally important that we also all take steps to control the commercial elements that make up the day to day running of Agetur, not only in terms of works on the order books and projected works but also and most importantly expenditure on site. It is very important that all additional works or variations are communicated through the office prior to being undertaken. If we don’t follow this procedure we put ourselves in the position where we may not get paid for the additional works for some time or even not at all!

If we consider that we have some 30+ active sites, and on each site, we could be carrying out works without prior agreement of price, this can all add up to be a very large sum of money that we may not get paid for some time. Please remember these are not just Agetur rules, these are also the rules that our clients enforce.

As a commercial department we have over the past few months added to the team, with Mike moving from buying to work as an estimator and Ben joining Pat in the buying office. I am sure you will all welcome and support them in their roles.

As always, please keep in close contact with your site QS and thank you for your help over the last 12 months.

James, Cormac, Andy, Richard, Mike and Tom.