Eric Wright Group turnover jumps by more than a third

Bamber Bridge-based property group Eric Wright added more than £60m to its total turnover in 2023, with a strong pipeline that is expected to continue the growth.

The company's annual results show turnover of £232m, up from £168m in 2022. This resulted in £7.9m of underlying trade profit, which dipped slightly from £11.9m the year prior.

The group continues to generate stable returns from its property portfolio and other long-term investments including Local Improvement Finance Trusts (LIFT) and Private Finance Initiatives (PFI).

In the current year investment property yields have continued to soften as a result of market sentiment and rising interest rates resulting in a revaluation deficit of £1.66m, despite improvements in the underlying rental levels. The property portfolio now stands at £86.9m.

Gill Chadwick, chief financial officer, commented: “The diversity of the group’s core activities, together with its stable investment property portfolio, has continued to provide the group with resilience and confidence.

"We are particularly encouraged by the pipeline across all of our contracting businesses and the construction company has performed particularly well in the year generating a convincing profit for the second consecutive year, signalling that the business is now well placed to continue to generate sustainable profits.”

Jeremy Hartley, chief executive officer,  added: “The group has many reasons to be proud of these results. Our order books for the coming year show further growth and our now well-established approach to risk management alongside robust strategies for measured growth positions the group extremely well to achieve continued trading stability and consistently strong financial returns moving forward.

“These returns also enable the group and the Eric Wright Charitable Trust to continue to work in partnership to support delivery of the charitable objectives across our region, making real improvements to peoples’ lives and the local communities in which they live and work.”