Northumberland construction specialist Merit has hailed strong results and continued innovation within the industry, despite seeing a fall in both sales and profits.
The offsite construction specialist designs and delivers technically complex, sustainable buildings at speed, manufacturing between 75% to 95% of buildings at its Cramlington base before shipping them to their final destination for installation.
The method drastically cuts construction times, a vital factor for some its clients in the bioscience, pharmaceutical, healthcare, semiconductor, EV battery and aviation sectors. Accounts for Merit Holdings have been published for the year ended June 2024, showing turnover fell from £94.3m to £86.6m, while operating profit dropped from £8.3m to £2.3m during a year of investment across the group. Overall profit for the year was £2.1m, down from £8.2m.
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Total equity increased from £16.1m to £18.1m. Separate accounts for Merit Group Services showed employee numbers rose from 305 to 357 during the year, with turnover falling from £88.4m to £79.7m and operating profit falling from £7.9m to £6.3m, while pre-tax profits were £5.8m, down from £7.6m. The firm said the results for Merit Group Services reflect a change in the way the business accounts for the use of its intellectual property (IP) and platform, which now sees each subsidiary—Merit Holdings and Merit Health—pay a licence fee for use of this IP.
During the financial year, Merit secured new wins across healthcare and life sciences and also completed a number of high profile projects. Highlights included the completion of Moderna’s Clinical Laboratories at Harwell Campus, creating the new Solihull Elective Hub for the NHS, and continued progress on facilities in Norwich, Woking, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Seaton Delaval. Following the year end, Merit was recently appointed by the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to design and build its new Hybrid Theatre and MRI Facility.
It also designed new pre-assembled modules (PAM) and launched a new solution called UltraPOD SFS Variant for urgent healthcare needs, investing £13m into the business. Over the year it expanded its workforce with 21 additional apprentices, with graduates now making up 50% of its workforce. It has also increased the proportion of women in the business, with women now making up 20% of the workforce across all roles.
Looking ahead, the business is preparing for a major expansion of Factory 2, with a planned 250,000 sqft extension to increase production capacity and support rising demand.
A report within the accounts, signed off by the board, highlighted a year of investments, saying: “During this year we continued developing our products through continuous improvement, and our investment in R&D, was again significant, almost £8m in new IP, as well as further investment in new capital equipment, spending almost £6m in this period.
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“The group operates from one of the largest off site manufacturing facilities in Europe comprising 270,000 sq ft, including a 40,000 sq ft high bay extension. A further significant expansion to factory two has planning permission and the site has been cleared ready for the addition of a further 250,000 sqft with a mezzanine level which will increase our capability to deliver annual turnover to around £450m and will support both our domestic and overseas export plans.
“We have considered the feasibility of a third factory to future proof our ambitious growth plans and this is still being considered both in the 海角视频 as well as overseas. Additional to our investment in buildings we have continued a programme of heavy investment in equipment to further automate our manufacturing processes, thereby achieving even greater efficiencies and reducing manufacturing time.”
Tony Wells, CEO, added: “This year’s financial results reflect the enormous talent, drive and ingenuity within our team. We’re building more than just facilities - we’re building a new future for how complex infrastructure is delivered, faster, better and more sustainably. Our commitment to nurturing future leaders through apprenticeships and graduate opportunities, increasing female representation and investing in strong leadership means we’re not only growing in scale but in resilience and expertise too.
“Looking ahead, the strength of our project pipeline reaffirms our dedication to advancing offsite manufacturing and cutting-edge technologies, allowing us to expand our impact across multiple sectors. We are excited about the future and remain focused on delivering exceptional value to our customers.”