Top 100: Major family construction firm reveals record year
The word ‘insolvency’ has dominated construction sector news of late, but Gloucestershire firm EG Carter has arrived to provide some cheer - a 30 per cent rise in turnover and a steady profit margin.
Dear readers,
Welcome to your Thursday edition of The Raikes Journal.
Looking around for positive stories as always we actually found plenty, but settled on one about a family business born, bred and thriving here in Gloucestershire.
Why? If you follow the news you probably heard about the mammoth construction firm ISG, on which 2,000 staff depended for their jobs and scores of subcontractors probably thought was rock solid too, until it went into administration in September.
As our main story below says the news put a focus on insolvencies in construction and at face value the figure for those won’t make you feel any more cheery either. But add a little more context, and perhaps it’s not quite so doom and gloom afterall.
And if you follow that by feasting on all of the main article below (the latest chapter in the story of fourth generation firm EG Carter) you might be forgiven for walking away with something of a spring in your step.
As we’ve started to tentatively say, we think our free Monday edition is not just among the best-read business dedicated emails in the county currently, it’s possibly the best-read. We like to think that’s because of our approach - original stories and proper journalism.
Nevertheless, as a growing business we continue to paywall many of our Thursday and Friday editions to enable us to continue to do what we do - writing and reporting on Gloucestershire, championing the county, supporting the third sector and creating community.
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Introducing another charity: The remarkable The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity
Few tales suggest more courage than this one. Reading about climbing Mount Everest never does justice to the challenge facing anyone who attempts the feat. But when you learn of Simon Clark’s journey it makes you stop and wonder. He is raising money for The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity which was instrumental in saving his life after a terrible car accident. The 44-year-old from Cirencester is still recovering from the crash that took the life of his partner and left paramedics describing him as the most broken patient they have ever seen – shattered bones, internal decapitations, punctured lungs, ruptured organs. Clark was told he would never recover, but he’s defied the odds and vowed to raise £4.5 million for the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity. He returned to the UK on Wednesday 2 October after reaching his target - Everest base camp. You can donate towards his cause here.
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Your briefing notes
🏎️ Architect Roberts Limbrick continues to progress plans for a manufacturing plant for a British-designed and made supercar on a Cotswold hillside. The Gloucester firm is acting on behalf of McMurtry Automotive Ltd, owned by Renishaw founder and billionaire Sir David McMurtry, who plans to begin production of the firm’s Spéirling electric hypercar, which can achieve 0-60 in 1.5 seconds and will retail at just under £1 million. If the scheme makes it through planning the site will be on farmland beside Renishaw's New Mills headquarters between Wotton-under-Edge and Charfield.
⚙️ Family engineering business Poeton Industries, which has its headquarters on Eastern Avenue, Gloucester, has revealed a new managing director. James Poeton is the fifth generation to take the reins at the surface treatment specialist which employs an estimated 120 staff. The new MD graduated in chemical engineering from The University of Bath, spent 10 years in sales roles in the technology industry, and joined the family firm in 2020 on its management training programme.
👩🏫🧠 QuoLux, the leadership development specialists which has become a key catalyst for change and growth for more firms that we have room to mention here - both in Gloucestershire and beyond - has just announced it has places on its next LEAD™ and LEADlight programs which are due to start soon. You may have seen the recent news of the sale of Creed Foodservice for £60 million, a firm which developed its leadership and management skills and culture by embedding QuoLux programmes in its business – and then grew to a business with more than £130 million turnover. Find out more here.
🏛️ Cheltenham Borough Council has listed its municipal offices on The Promenade for sale. Real estate firm, Avison Young, has been appointed to market the 68,290 square foot, Grade II* listed building. The council has been in the building for 100 years. Daniel Rich, director at Avison Young said the sale “represents an unrivalled opportunity. We’re anticipating strong interest from potential developers who want to take this heritage property into the future”.
Top 100: Major family construction firm reveals record year
The word ‘insolvency’ has dominated construction sector news of late, but Gloucestershire firm EG Carter has arrived to provide some cheer - a 30 per cent rise in turnover and a steady profit margin.
By Andrew Merrell
Few construction firms are as well known in Gloucestershire as family firm EG Carter, synonymous of late with the refurbishment of Gloucester’s King’s Square and numerous other public-and private sector work county-wide and beyond.
Major commercial projects have included the near £700,000 fitout of Gloucester Rugby’s Training facilities in Kingsholm, the £600,000-plus alterations and enlargement of TK Maxx store in Cheltenham, and The Avening Ward at Cheltenham General Hospital.
It is also a business that has a healthy interest in the residential, general works and property services, and like most other firms in its sector will have seen the shock news of the demise of industry giant ISG that has left at least 2,000 staff out of work.
The scale of the London-headquartered firm is hard to grasp. In 2022 turnover of the firm that built the likes of the Velodrome for the London 2012 Olympics was £2.18 billion, pre-tax profit were £11.5m and the highest paid director received £2.5 million.
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