The RLB main board (from left to right: Dean Sheehy, Ann Bentley, Andrew Reynolds, Mark Weaver, Stuart Stables)
Profit at consultant Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) more than doubled in 2019, as the business grew its UK market share and branched out into new sectors.
RLB’s pre-tax profit for the year to 30 April 2019 hit £2.7m, up from £1.2m the year before. Turnover climbed to £81.7m, up from £58.7m the year before.
RLB said it had managed to grow UK market share despite a “backdrop of economic and political uncertainty”.
It has developed service lines including strengthening its project management offering, expanding further in the North West with the opening of a Liverpool office, and focused on investing into public sector resources.
RLB has also benefitted from the growing market for data centres across the UK and Europe. Within the retail sector, RLB it seen change as consumers’ buying behaviour drives increases in the logistics and industrial sectors.
And the company has continued to re-secure work with long-standing UK clients and internationally. “A common theme across all client relationships, new and existing, has been a focus on supporting clients to realise their sustainability aspirations and enabling the delivery of buildings that are energy efficient, low carbon, and of high quality in the longer term,” it said.
During the year, RLB established a series of working groups to help it prepare for the future. The groups focus on: modern methods of construction including design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA), the changing profiles of more sustainable materials such as timber, and advances in digital tools and technologies.
Meanwhile, RLB has calculated its own social value performance, using the Social Profit Calculator and independently verified by social value aspects, and found that for every £1 the company spent in 2018/19, it generated £2.19 in social value. The social value it generated included creating and sustaining jobs, providing qualifications and training opportunities, enabling career opportunities and supporting the health and wellbeing of employees. The company forecasts that its own social value will be £446m over the next five years and £746m over the next 10 years.
The business has also committed to supporting clients to procure social value from each contract, particularly in the public sector. “The objective is to ensure that the socio-economic and environmental benefits outlive each contract and can be felt and measured for years within the local community,” it said in a statement preceding its financial results.
In November last year, RLB announced that it had appointed Andrew Reynolds as its new chief executive, as the company announced a new series of board appointments and a restructure. The company has set itself an ambition to grow its turnover to £150m over the next ten years.
