Kier made more money from government clients than any other company in the last financial year, according to a report published this week.
The study found the Manchester-based contractor secured work worth £1.4bn with government clients in the 12 months to March 2023.
The report, produced by procurement analytics specialist Tussell, looked at all invoice payments published by public sector bodies relating to this year.
After Kier, the next construction giant on the earnings table was Balfour Beatty in third place with £1.2bn, while civil engineering group Babcock was fifth with £1.1bn .
Support services specialist Mitie and defense and aerospace conglomerate BAE Systems took the state’s second and fourth most effective respectively.
The report mainly looked at the government’s strategic suppliers. These are private sector companies whose relationship with the government is centrally coordinated and supervised by the Cabinet Office.
According to Tussell, construction companies made up about a quarter of the 39 companies with strategic supplier status in November. The industry accounted for £5.5bn of public sector spending last year, just below the £5.6bn spent by the government on technology.
According to the report, more than 40 per cent of defense spending was with construction companies in 2022/23, as well as almost a quarter of NHS investment.
As well as the companies collecting £1bn in rewards, Amey received £923m, Equans £624m and Jacobs £377m. Mott MacDonald took home £211m, the report said, while Laing O’Rourke took home £120m, putting it one place above Microsoft.
Meanwhile, Tussell noted that several companies without strategic supplier status won substantial amounts of government work last year.
French-owned construction giant Vinci got £892m, the study found, while Willmott Dixon took £824m and Wates £728m.
“While procurement spending increased by 4% in the last financial year to £222bn, combined direct revenue from strategic suppliers fell by 17% to £18.9bn,” he said. report
“While the public sector’s reliance on strategic suppliers appears to be gradually declining, a market share of 9% in 2022/23 remains high relative to the 24% of total procurement spend going directly to all SMEs . [small and medium-sized enterprises] in the same period”.
