WYG delivers ‘strong’ start to year

Leeds-based WYG today provided an update on trading for the six months to September.

The statement said: “In June we reported that our focus had moved towards driving sustainable growth and today we can announce that we have seen a number of positive developments in the delivery of this strategy.

“In the UK, we have secured additional business across our core sectors of defence and urban development, including several projects related to the MoD’s Base Optimisation programme and the group is winning increased levels of planning and enabling work associated with the widely reported increase in activity in the construction and house building sector.”

Overseas, the company has been awarded new contracts in Bulgaria, Uzbekistan and the Western Balkans, notably a large scale project to advise SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in Croatia.

As a result of this increased activity, revenues to date have shown a modest increase compared with the same period last year, reversing the negative trend of recent years, the company said.

The board stated in June that it anticipated that the profit out turn for the current year would be higher than market expectations at that time.

The statement added: “In light of the positive recent trading, the board is now pleased to confirm that it expects the out turn to further exceed those expectations.”

Paul Hamer, chief executive Officer of WYG, said: “We have had a good, strong start to the year, with encouraging progress in both our UK and overseas markets.

“Looking ahead, we are beginning to see signs that the UK Government’s investment in major infrastructure projects and its encouragement of the house building sector are having a positive effect on our core, front-end disciplines of planning and development.

“Overseas, we continue to build on our strong market position and maintain our focus on partnering to access new and emerging markets. Our strong track record in executing quality projects underpins our strategy of creating growth and becoming a global group.”