May Gurney beats the gloom

Services company May Gurney has had a record year with a bulging order book on high demand for its maintenance, waste and infrastructure services.

The group said it showed the resilience of its business model to economic cycles.

Some 80% of May Gurney's business is in long-term maintenance and improvement contracts, 90% in the public sector.

Preliminary results show net profit of £11.8 million, up from £10.7 million last year. Revenue was £437 million and the dividend is lifted 48% to 3.1p.

Despite spending £12.5 million on acquisitions, May Gurney was sitting on a £21 million cash pile at the end of the year.

Chief executive David Sterry said he would focus on organic growth, and aimed to secure new long-term contracts that would cushion the firm from the economic cycle.

Sterry will step down as chief executive at the annual meeting next month in favour of Philip Fellowes-Prynne. Sterry becomes non-executive chairman.