THE Cruden Group has announced a ‘robust’ financial performance for the year ending March 2022, including a 23rd consecutive year of profitable trading.
Against a ‘challenging’ industry backdrop of cost inflation, rising interest rates, labour and material shortages, the group has reported a 29% increase in turnover to £247.4 million (2021: £191.5 million) and pre-tax profit of £4.9 million (2021: £0.3 million).
Cruden added that it has secured a ‘solid’ forward pipeline of work in both housebuilding and construction.
The group has benefited from high demand for new build housing, while its construction arm, Cruden Building, has been appointed to three separate multi-million pound public sector procurement frameworks to address housing challenges across Scotland.
The housebuilding arm, Cruden Homes, was awarded House Builder of the Year 2022 at the Homes for Scotland Awards and this year saw the number of private housing sales rise from 159 to 174 homes. The company also saw from a 40% increase in average sales value to £314,000 (2021: £225,00).
Cruden said it maintains a ‘robust capital base’ with net assets of £50.4 million and held cash reserves of £51 million at year end.
In tackling labour shortages facing the industry, Cruden explained that it continues to invest in recruiting, retaining, and developing employees and providing modern apprenticeships and graduate trainees through the Cruden Academy. This year’s intake sees a further 27 apprentices and graduate trainees begin their working experience and the business has recently invested in its learning and development programme with resources dedicated to this area.
In terms of environmental progress, Cruden is currently delivering the design for two major net zero housing developments within Edinburgh at Silverlea and Fountainbridge and is on site building Scotland’s first social housing development to Passivhaus standard in Drymen, near Glasgow. This year also saw Cruden appointed as preferred bidder to drive forward the first phase of the £1.3 billion regeneration at Granton Waterfront which includes designs for around 850 net zero homes.
Kevin Reid, chief executive of the Cruden Group, said, “The business and our employees have shown great resilience and adaptability in a dynamic and changing marketplace and we have made good progress this year to deliver an improved set of financial results. We have secured a solid forward order book, with public sector clients, and have the capacity to expand our house building activities as market conditions allow.
“Our ability to secure land, fund developments and deliver large construction projects, continues to set us apart from many of our competitors.
“We have to recognise the challenges posed by ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, but we remain optimistic about our future and anticipate that we can maintain activity levels in the period to March 2023. The strength of the group’s balance sheet also enables us to navigate the challenging business environment currently presenting and look forward with confidence to the years ahead as fresh opportunities arise.”
