Bouygues Energies & Services (E&S) UK has posted a pre-tax profit for 2022, ending five consecutive years of losses.
In its accounts covering the year to 31 December 2022, published by Companies House on 30 October, the British construction engineering subsidiary of French group Bouygues reported a pre-tax profit of 19, 2 million pounds. This compares with a pre-tax loss of £49.5m the previous year.
It is the first time the company has made a pre-tax profit since 2016, when the figure was £3.7m. The company reported pre-tax losses of £34.8m in 2017, £50.4m in 2018, £4.7m in 2019 and £1.4m in 2020.
In their strategic report accompanying the latest accounts, the company’s directors said financial performance in 2022 was in line with expectations, while 2021 was below expectations.
They added that new orders had been secured in 2022 and that the firm was “continuously developing additional expertise and investing in new activities in close collaboration with other parts of the Bouygues group” in order to expand the services it offers.
In 2022, earnings were £198,453, up slightly from the 2021 level of £195,277. Cash on hand eroded slightly from £75.8m in 2021 to £72m.
The average number of employees in 2022 was 255, down from 265 the previous year.
Bouygues E&S carries out the engineering, construction, service and maintenance of “highly technical installations in critical and controlled environments”.
This includes projects for pharmaceutical facilities, laboratories, print rooms, data centers and waste-to-energy plants.
The profit from the E&S business contrasts with the performance of Bouygues’ main contracting subsidiary in the UK, which made a pre-tax loss of £42m in the year ending 31 December 2022. with a turnover of £382 million. Bouygues almost doubled its security provisions on the building from £31.5m to £62m, citing what it called “post-completion liabilities arising from recent legislative changes relating to the security of the “building”.
