Looking ahead

Before looking ahead it’s worth reminding ourselves of the growth journey that we have been on over the last 5 years – in 2015 our turnover was less than half what it is today at just £134m.

Whilst we still seek growth in the next five-year period we do not expect this to be at the same rate, and it may be preceded by a small dip as we transition across from AMP6 to AMP7 – a usual consequence of our clients planning the delivery of their next capital programmes.

Consequently, we have set a 2020 budget of £290m against the 2019 out-turn of £312m. At the time of writing 88% of this budget is already secured, with further work expected to come from successful tenders and direct allocation of work from within existing frameworks.

In 2020 some of the big projects we have been working on will be approaching completion, including Hallbank pipelines (United Utilities) where we are working to improve water supplies in the north-west. We will also be busy starting new work, including a thermal hydrolysis plant (THP) at Stoke Bardolph (Severn Trent), a project similar to that delivered so successfully at Five Fords (Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water).

At a framework level, 2019 saw us secure new multi-year deals with Yorkshire Water and Severn Trent that extend our relationships with these long-term clients until at least 2025. These wins sit alongside extensions of existing contracts with Anglian Water, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, and United Utilities and an expectation of the same at Northumbrian Water. These clients will provide a solid base for AMP7. We will also look for appropriate opportunities with Thames Water – a client for whom we priced our first tender in 2019.

In the environment sector, JBA Bentley’s work for the Environment Agency is expected to peak at £50m in 2020, with nationally important flood defence work being done across the Yorkshire and Anglian regions including flagship schemes at York and Great Yarmouth.

Our focus will be on winning new work for JBA Bentley following the completion of the Water and Environmental Management (WEM) framework. This includes bidding for frameworks with the Coal Authority – a process that started at the end of 2019.

Elsewhere we expect a growing pipeline of work from Rolls-Royce, following turnover in 2019 of £8.4m. In the gas sector an impending framework opportunity with National Grid is likely to align well with our design and build delivery model – so building capability by delivering work for Cadent Gas becomes an important task in 2020.

At the time of writing we are delivering our first job for new client Magnox in North Wales, and are using this experience to bid a small engineering framework for another Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) client in Cumbria. We have framework bids pending with airport operator Manchester Airports Group, North Yorkshire County Council, and Cumbria County Council – all indicators of our future work winning intent.

In summary, the outlook for the company continues to be positive as we look forward to the start of AMP7 in April 2020.

Editorial and design in-house at JN Bentley Ltd. Printed on FSC approved stock using vegetable-based inks. JN Bentley is part of the Mott MacDonald Group. Follow us on Twitter @jnbentley.

February 2020.