The calendar year 2020 commenced in earnest with some great projects on the ground and a strong pipeline to support this. By February, it was becoming evident that 2020 would be an incredibly busy year for the business, although by March it rapidly became apparent there were some immediate challenges ahead of us.

Our current financial year commenced on the 1^st April and it commenced like no other before it; a national lockdown, all of our sites temporarily closed and a fast-moving global health pandemic. It goes without saying that this did not give us the financial start to the year we anticipated.

Once we had adapted the business to operate in accordance with the bespoke site operating procedures of the Construction Leadership Council and safeguard our staff and suppliers, we were able to start opening a limited number of sites towards the end of April and commence our plan to recover the losses made in those first few weeks of the year. Thankfully, we retained all of our live prospects and our pipeline remained strong, so we’re able to enter the summer period with a very strong order book across all divisions of the business.

As we close 2020 with a record number of projects on the ground, we are delivering them at a time when the global pandemic is still having a tangible impact on the business, however I am pleased to say that the hard work over the summer and into the autumn has paid off and we have been able to recover the loses made in the early part of the financial year.

There are still three full months remaining of our current financial year with some further challenges and uncertainty ahead, however there does appear to be some light of the tunnel as we bring 2020 to a close and look forward to 2021 with a continually strong order book and pipeline.

Thanks to all for your continued hard work and dedication at this challenging time.

-Mike Gibbin, Financial Director

“Todays’ market is not without its challenges, but the most important thing is that we enter 2020 in the same manner in which we leave 2019; delivering great projects of all sizes through honesty, integrity, hard work and discipline. This ‘Hobson & Porter way’ has been the backbone of our success for almost fifty years and it is vitally important we maintain this, whilst also evolving and moving with a fast-paced industry.” -Mike Gibbin, Finance Director

Earlier this year we published our annual accounts for the financial year 2018/19 where we recorded a turnover of just under £37 million – an increase from £33.3 million in the previous year. Our Finance Director Mike Gibbin explains more.