Rok reduces exposure to private sector market

Aug 13 2008 by Alex Turner, Liverpool Daily Post

BUILDING and maintenance services company Rok reported a 22% rise in half-year pre-tax profits to £12.4m and a 37% increase in its revenues to £546.7m.

However it is reducing its capacity in the private sector new-build market by 40%, which will see 200 jobs cut from the division. The company emphasised that most of the staff will be redeployed and the company will continue to be a net recruiter.

Rok is also closing its commercial property development operation, which recorded a pre-tax loss of £4.2m for the six months to June 30. The closure will incur a one-off cost of £11.3m.

The company employs 5,500 staff nationwide - about 140 people are based at its Liverpool and Chester offices - and expects to continue recruiting at a rate of 50-60 people a month.

The solid interim results were on the back of public sector spending in social housing and education, alongside refurbishments and response maintenance.

Rok’s chairman Stephen Pettit said: “Rok's strategy remains unchanged but our business mix is evolving to focus on activities such as repairs, refurbishment and response maintenance, which will produce higher margins in the economic environment in which we expect to be operating over the next few years.

“Our core building and maintenance operations have continued to perform strongly, demonstrating that our strategy of locally delivered services on a national scale is a compelling proposition for customers.

“We have planned for the period ahead and taken the necessary steps to ensure that Rok is well positioned to prosper. Overall, we are confident of a satisfactory outcome in the current year from our core building and maintenance activities.”

Rok’s Chester office has recently begun work on a £2.5m project for Airbus in Broughton, Chester, building two extensions to existing aircraft hangars, its fourth Airbus contract in the past two years.

Three large-scale home improvement schemes for Knowsley Housing Trust and Flintshire County Council have generated £3.5m.

This year Rok has continued to acquire building services firms, adding Dundee-based Pitkerro and Richardson Projects in Rochdale. This strategy means it increasingly employs a direct workforce, which it believes helps it to reinforce its business model of community based building and maintenance services delivered locally by local people.

alex.turner