Building Services Specialist Briggs and Forrester Group has bolstered its senior team with the appointment of Jeremy Askew as Group Finance Director in anticipation of the increased revenue forecast for 2021 and beyond.
Paul Burton, Group CEO said: “Jeremy brings a wealth of experience to our Group Board from a variety of accountancy and finance roles and will work closely with the team driving the future strategic direction of the business. His passion is already evident and we look forward to Jeremy influencing the Group by improving our overall efficiency and performance towards an overall improvement in profit margin.”
Jeremy Askew commented: “I am excited to join Briggs & Forrester in this role and look forward to working with my new colleagues. There are some very loyal and talented people here who share the same values and vision with a great track record of delivering quality projects for our customers. It was a major attraction to be given the opportunity to work closely with the Board of Directors on a strategic level to help shape the future success and growth of the Group.”
Despite a slight dip in the Group’s revenues for 2020 caused primarily by the impact of Covid-19 across the Construction Industry, the Group has completed another strong performance, now predicting a pre-tax profit result of £5.6m (2.5%) on revenues of £225m. Jeremy replaces John Simson, the Company Secretary & Group Accountant who retires mid-2021 after 23 years with the Group.
“The Group has maintained a strong year-end balance sheet together with a creditable cash balance of £23.5m, without the need to utilise any additional banking facilities. Trading conditions made us review the way we operate and the use of our systems and our IT technology stood up to the test, catering well with remote working. New technologies are now at the forefront of our thoughts as we strategically develop the business further and Jeremy will aid these future considerations and oversee any implementation.”
“All our sector driven businesses are focused on delivering ‘Excellence at Every level’ a repeat business model with our much valued clients and with a near record forward order book of £414m including £60m of workload in the final stages of negotiation this continues to progress as planned. Our three year plan is focused toward delivering revenues of £300m by the end of 2023 and a good pipeline of opportunities supports this with some confidence.”
Recent and notable project awards include One Centenary Way, a commercial development in Birmingham, Manchester City College, a higher education project, MRC LMS, Hammersmith an extensive Research & Development project together with some high-quality residential developments including Broadway Tower, Central London, Morello Tower project in Croydon, Plot 7, Perry Bar, Birmingham and Monkbridge, Leeds.
Paul Burton reports: “Despite current market conditions, we’re in a good place with a number of projects in the final stages of negotiations supported further by a healthy pipeline behind these. We also have further capacity for the right opportunities from our client base and look forward to continuing to improve our Excellence at Every Level repeat business model further.”
The Briggs and Forrester Group now employs over 930 staff across 10 UK based offices. “We have continually invested in our most important asset, our people and they have in turn helped support the business through the most difficult times of the pandemic which is testament to them all.”
Briggs & Forrester Group have now established full sector offerings across the UK, including the Midlands, South West and Northern regions, in addition to the traditional areas of London and the South East.
“In January this year we established the Briggs & Forrester Wellbeing initiative which has been a success and a vital resource for our employees, especially during these uncertain times. Over 30 of our people have trained as Mental Health First Aiders and are able to offer an invaluable resource to those of our employees who need someone to talk to during challenging times.”
Briggs and Forrester were delighted to have donated £20,000 to the Princes Trust this year. As a business who strive to build the skills of young people and openly invest into supporting their future career prospects, the Princes Trust aligns with Briggs & Forrester’s core values, inspiring young people and changing their lives for the better.
“The Group has a long history of supporting charitable organizations and will again be hosting our bi-annual Supply Chain Charity Golf day in June next year, where the Company will be supporting another worthwhile charitable cause.”
