03 Mar Headland Archaeology Secures £4.5m of New Business in Last Year and Makes the News
We are very pleased to report substantial growth in the last year, securing £4.5m in new business. Sales have steadily increased over the last few years and with the revival of the construction industry we are forecasting that our work will increase by 20 per cent in the coming year. We are also delighted to see that our success has made the news (The Scotsman, The Herald)
Tim Holden, Managing Director at Headland Archaeology, said: ‘The heritage sector has changed considerably in the last five years – a number of archaeologists have left the sector, companies have fallen victim of the recession while others have merged or been taken over. We have weathered the storm well in comparison and used the quieter time wisely to ensure we are now in a great position to take advantage of the economic upturn.’
Tim added: ‘One of our great strengths has always been the management of large infrastructure projects. In recent years we have completed rail and road projects to the value of more than £30m. We have the skill and expertise to deliver and with some high profile projects due to get underway in the very near future, such as HS2, we are well-positioned to assist and offer real value to these opportunities.’
Headland teams from all three offices have worked on more than 300 projects in the last year and have welcomed almost 40 new staff. Recent high profile projects include £3m worth of advance archaeological works for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, enabling and during construction works on the Stafford-West Coast mainline, a project worth £250k. The company is also working on Clyde Windfarm, the largest windfarm in Europe, Furness Abbey and Hereford Cathedral as well as Drax Power Station and the Ireland-France Interconnector.
Russel Coleman, Commercial Director at Headland, said:
‘Business has picked up significantly in the last 18 months. After maintaining steady growth during the recession, we returned to pre-recession levels of profitatibility last year with pre-tax profits of £412k on turnover of £3.3m. This year we are on course for turnover in excess of £5m and continued profit growth. The company has retained profits to ensure we continue to make capital investment in order to have the resources to undertake and deliver large projects efficiently. We are also debt free and are actively looking for growth opportunities going forward’.
‘We have seen a significant upturn in larger contracts and the market has evolved to focus more on resources and the ability to deliver, rather than decisions that are based on price. In the last couple of months alone we have secured £600k worth of new business as a result of our ability to resource and start a project promptly.’