Losses narrow at offsite firm Caledonian Modular

Offsite construction specialist Caledonian Modular has narrowed its losses in 2019, and now expects to make a profit in 2020.

In 2018, the company, based in Newark in Nottinghamshire, suffered a pre-tax loss of £3.7m on turnover of £52.8m. While it still made a pre-tax loss in 2019, it reduced the figure to £739,000 on turnover of £50.1m.

Caledonian, which provides modular buildings for the residential, education, defence, hotel and healthcare sectors, said it expected to return to an operating profit for the year ending 31 March 2020.

One of its most prominent recent projects has been to provide hotel-style worker accommodation at Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, with 1,496 ensuite rooms across 44 buildings in two locations.

The company has been investing heavily in its development, spending over £1m in 2019 on the recruitment of staff to service growth, strengthening its design and project management capability, and investing in a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

CEO Paul Lang said: "The market for modular construction continues to improve with strong support coming from the UK government and increasing awareness of its benefits in the private sector.

"The government has committed to supporting modern methods of construction (MMC), including modular construction, through both support for R&D and directly through procurement. Having come first on Batch C Department for Education Schools Framework and second on Batch B, Caledonian has a substantial pipeline of education work which it will be undertaking over the next two years to add to a significant pipeline in student accommodation, apartment blocks, hotels and healthcare."