Willmott Dixon, the privately owned construction and interiors company, has returned to profit – and secured a record £1.3bn in contract wins.

The news comes as the firm released its annual results for the 12 months to 31 December 2024.

Figures showed turnover remained similar to 2023 at £1.2bn. Willmott Dixon Construction accounted for £1bn or the turnover with Willmott Dixon Interiors adding £146.7m.

But 2024’s pre-tax profit of £46.8m compared with a £14.4m loss in 2023.

Losses in 2023 were partly due to the significant provisions made for legacy cladding remediation works. The company secured net recoveries from third parties of more than £20m against those historic provisions during the year, boosting profits.

Chief executive officer, Graham Dundas, said: “We’re delighted to have returned to profit as we expected in 2024, responding strongly to a difficult economic environment in 2023, and adding a record £1.3bn of new contract awards to our high-quality order book.

“Our strategies, including a more rigorous focus on contract selection, are generating much improved consistency in our financial performance, with all parts of the Group delivering a meaningful contribution to the welcome return to profit in 2024.

“These results, and the operational performance that underpins them, give us great momentum and a solid foundation to move on into 2025, backed up by a very strong cash position and a solid pipeline of opportunities. I look forward to the rest of the year with confidence and cautious optimism.”

The company secured a record £1.3bn in contract awards with its order book currently standing at £2.345bn including more than £900m in net zero projects

Major projects secured during the period include a £90m project to build a new student village in Stoke-on-Trent for the University of Staffordshire that will be built using Passivhaus principles, a £61.0m project from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to enable the rebasing of the 18 Army Education Centre and 1 Military Working Dogs from St George’s Barracks to Kendrew Barracks, a £60m project for Bridgend College to build its new net zero in operation (NZiO) Town Centre Campus and the £49m redevelopment of Wigan & Leigh College, also NZiO. 

The company was also selected for more than £130m of projects for the ‘blue light’ sector with a new Joint Firearms and Tactical unit facility for South Wales Police near Bridgend, a new HQ for Herts Constabulary in Welwyn and a new police station in Milton for Cambridgeshire Police.

It added work in the fast-emerging transport connectivity sector continues to grow, with contracts for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester. 

On current trading, Dundas added: “We’ve started the current trading year strongly with secured and probable workload of 93% by March. Most of this has been procured through public sector procurement frameworks, the bedrock of our order book, with 81% of our turnover derived from the public sector and 77% through long-term frameworks.  

“Over half of our work is with repeat business customers, and this remains an area that we’ll continue to grow using our presence on a combination of national and local frameworks. 

“The above factors give us much to be optimistic about although we remain far from complacent in what has become an uncertain world. While we await the Government’s Spending Review this summer, we are confident that our presence in critical sectors such as education, blue light services, residential and transport – supported by our leading position in sustainable construction – provides greater resilience.”