NG Bailey looks to the future with confidence

The Ilkley-based firm, which is one of biggest privately owned companies in Yorkshire, said it is confident it can get through the current crisis and return to its former outperformance.

Chief executive of NG Bailey, David Hurcomb, said: “With a strong pipeline of opportunities and continued commitment from the Government to defence and infrastructure spending, including exciting emerging sectors such as battery storage and manufacture, NG Bailey is confident it is structured to get through the current crisis and return to the levels of profitability of recent years in the medium term.

“We are well placed to continue to play a significant role in the long-term opportunities across UK defence and infrastructure. These sectors will play an important role in rebuilding the UK economy and are where there is positive Government commitment.”

NG Bailey reported a 3 per cent increase in turnover to £573m in the year to February 28, with underlying operating profit rising from £19.4m to £19.8m.

Following the outbreak of Covid-19 in March, NG Bailey said it reacted quickly, adapting its business strategy in response to the wider situation, working with employees, customers, and supply chain partners to ensure safe new working arrangements were introduced.

The majority of the group’s projects and sites have remained open safely, in-line with Government guidance and in collaboration with its partners and stakeholders. Work continues to safely remobilise activities that were paused.

Mr Hurcomb said: “Covid-19 has undoubtedly brought significant challenges and like all businesses we face a new reality. We are experiencing reduced revenues currently and expect this to continue for some time as investments and spending by customers is deferred.

“As a result, we sadly have had to reduce our headcount by around 8 per cent to match this lower workload. However, despite the expectation that ongoing disruption from Covid-19 and

Brexit uncertainties will continue to make trading conditions very tough for some time, we are confident that we will emerge stronger.

“We believe our strategy of achieving a balance in the business across our engineering and services divisions, coupled with our pipeline of work and our strong balance sheet, puts us in a strong position to face any challenges that lie ahead.”

NG Bailey said that both its engineering and services divisions have played key roles in delivering a wide range of projects to support the UK Government’s response to the pandemic, including essential work on the UK’s Nightingale Hospital programme.

Mr Hurcomb added: “I am proud of the response of our people to the pandemic, working together as one team to adapt and introduce new ways of working during these challenging times. I would like to thank them all for their ongoing hard work and dedication.”