Profit stays flat on 2020 number

Regional contractor Beard said turnover last year topped the pandemic-affected number in 2020 with revenue growing 6% to £144m.

The figure was still down on the pre-pandemic figure of £158m with the firm, which has offices in Bristol, Guildford, Oxford and a headquarters in Swindon, posting a pre-tax profit of £4.2m – flat on 2020’s number â€“ and just £200,000 off 2019’s amount.

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Beard finished a new £18.5m building for St Hilda’s College, Oxford, last summer

It added that its cash position at the year-end was just under £40m, up from the £32m posted at the end of 2020.

The firm said its average payment time was 27 days and added: “We believe in treating suppliers fairly because it is the right thing to do. Their trust and goodwill has been central to our relative success.â€

Beard, which last year completed work on a new building for St Hilda’s College, Oxford, said it claimed just £3,000 in furlough cash last year, compared to the £679,000 it was handed the year before.

Exceptional items were at zero last year with the firm having racked up £722,000 in restructuring and redundancy costs because of the pandemic in 2020.