TClarke profit boosted by UK data boom

TClarke’s profit and turnover have soared as demand for data centres and healthcare projects has increased.

Higher demand for data centres across the UK helped the M&E specialist to record a pre-tax profit of £7.8m in the year to 31 December 2021, compared with the £1.2m it recorded in 2020. The 2020 figure takes into account the company’s intangible assets and restructuring costs for the year.

TClarke attributed the high demand for data centres to the increased need for cloud storage, a focus on working from home, the e-commerce drive and the arrival of 5G. Its revenue for the period came in at £327.1m, up from the £231.9m it recorded in 2020.

Cash was down to £20.3m, having stood at £25.2m in 2020.

In total, TClarke was working on five data-centre projects at the end of 2021, worth £150m combined. Now the company is tracking £900m worth of work in the technology sector, which it said could make up at least 30 per cent of its revenue this year and beyond.

In March 2021, company chief financial officer Trevor Mitchell told Construction News that the group liked working on more complex projects, such as data centres, where the client focus is less on cost.

The booming technology sector took on an increased share of the company’s forward-order book, which was at a “record” £534m. Technology work accounts for 25 per cent of that figure, compared with 10 per cent in 2020.

TClarke said its performance in the second half of 2021 was stronger than the first six-month period, as expected, which restored its profit margin for the year.

Technology is one of five sectors currently targeted by the business, and it is also focusing on the UK healthcare industry as an area of growth. Off the back of the government’s commitment to invest £100bn in health infrastructure by 2025, the contractor scooped orders in the sector worth £42m, with its status as preferred bidder confirmed on £63m worth of work.

A £61m project to develop a data centre in Salford is scheduled to get under way later this year, after it received the green light in November. TClarke is not alone in focusing on data centres as an area of growth, after John Sisk earmarked the sector for work opportunities last year.