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Commercial Property News
Rok profits up 22% in H1 but exits commercial property sector
Rok plc reported a 22% rise in first-half profit on revenues up 37%, underpinned by solid public spending on social housing and education, but said it will close its commercial property operation.
The building and maintenance services group, which posted £12.4 million in profit before tax to end-June, said it was confident of a satisfactory outcome for the year in its core operations of building and maintenance operations due to a record order book.
Rok said the closure of the property operation, which reflects a very difficult investment market coupled with a lack of freehold sales, is well advanced and it expects no further adverse financial impact.
Stephen Pettit, Chairman, 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 in 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. The decision to close and make full provisions for our Development operation enables us to put the issues associated with it firmly behind us and gives us confidence that there will be no further adverse financial impact from this operation.
The building and maintenance services group, which posted £12.4 million in profit before tax to end-June, said it was confident of a satisfactory outcome for the year in its core operations of building and maintenance operations due to a record order book.
Rok said the closure of the property operation, which reflects a very difficult investment market coupled with a lack of freehold sales, is well advanced and it expects no further adverse financial impact.
Stephen Pettit, Chairman, 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 in 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. The decision to close and make full provisions for our Development operation enables us to put the issues associated with it firmly behind us and gives us confidence that there will be no further adverse financial impact from this operation.
Tue, 12th Aug 2008