Wates Group secured £2.4bn of new work in 2020, taking its order book to a record £6.6bn, up 13.5%.
The news came as Wates revealed its financial results for the past year. Describing 2020 as “one of the most challenging years” in its 124-year history, Wates recorded turnover of £1.45bn (down 11.3%) and made a pre-tax profit of £1.7m, after exceptional costs of £11.4m.
It ended the year with £215.9m of cash, as well as access to an undrawn £120m revolving credit facility.
During the pandemic, Wates has accessed £50m of bank funding through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and received £7.7m of income from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, otherwise known as the government’s furlough scheme.
Wates furloughed a maximum of 1,400 employees during the first UK-wide lockdown. By October, no employees were left on furlough. Pay cuts imposed during the first three months of lockdown were reimbursed in February 2021 salaries. But the company also made 268 redundancies, equivalent to 7% of its workforce.
Wates Residential accounted for 52% of all work won across the group, increasing its turnover by 21.1%. The division was appointed as development partner for Harrow Council’s £600m, 1,500 home regeneration scheme.
David Allen, chief executive, the Wates Group, said: “We began 2020 with enormous optimism, having just achieved the highest level of profits the group had generated for almost a decade and a record order book. Within three months, the pandemic left us facing a battle for survival. That we finished the year with a positive result is a credit to the remarkable efforts, resilience and adaptability of everyone at Wates.
“The pandemic challenged us to work in different ways and to adapt. We reorganised our business to focus on helping to tackle the UK’s housing shortage, supporting the public sector to build back better and investing in the modern methods of construction that will enable us to meet our customer’s needs in the future. Together, we have set the business up to succeed and we remain committed to our goal of becoming the most sustainable, trusted and progressive business in the sector.”
