Lee Marley Brickwork grew its turnover to record levels and saw profit rise, despite experiencing an “unprecedented shift” in secured revenue.
The Reading-headquartered brickwork and scaffolding specialist saw turnover reach £87.2m in the year to 31 December 2024, up from £79.8m in the prior year.
Pre-tax profit reached £3.6m, up from £2.8m, newly released accounts show.
The performance means its pre-tax margin rose to 4.1 per cent from 3.6 per cent in 2023.
The period was its fifth successive year of revenue growth and second year back in profit.
Last year, the firm was ranked seventh in the CN Specialists index for envelope contractors.
In his strategic report that accompanied the accounts, managing director Lee Marley said the 12 months were a time of “transition and retrenchment”.
The announcement in July 2023 that second staircases would be required for new residential buildings of higher than 18 metres, rather than the previously mandated 30 metres, “caused an unprecedented shift in secured revenue as our clients halted project starts to assess the impact of the measures on their production pipeline”, he said.
Despite the then government announcing in October 2023 that there would be a transitional period until at least 2026, a “significant number” of the specialist’s projects were delayed by between six and nine months.
Work worth £30m was pushed back from 2024 to 2025, Marley added.
The slowdown enabled the company to “give pause to its future strategy and to align its cost base accordingly”, he said, with a senior management cadre “stripped away” and “greater responsibility devolved down our management chains”.
The average number of people employed by the company throughout the year was 232 compared with 211 in 2023, according to the accounts, with the number of managers dropping from six to five.
The firm’s annual wage bill rose from £8.3m to £9.1m, the accounts stated.
Extra investment was also made into commercial and training functions, Marley said.
It employed 117 apprentices, with 26 new ones enrolling in its in-house academy in 2024.
The firm ended the year with just over £2m cash at bank and in hand, an increase from just £82 in 2023.
It took on less short-term repayable bank loan debt last year (£4.7m compared with £6.3m the year before), while almost all the long-term loan debt was paid down (£76,759 versus £250,221).
Shareholders received a £572,000 dividend, up from £553,500 in 2023.
Lee Marley has offices in London, Glasgow and Reading. It focuses on large-scale, high-rise and complex projects particularly in the mixed-use, affordable and social housing, and institutional build-to-rent sectors.
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