Grimshaw tightens belt as revenue and profit head south

Income at Grimshaw Architects nosedived by more than a quarter last year with much of the fall coming from its business defined by the architect as the rest of the world.

Turnover in Europe and the US went up, by nearly half to £23m at the latter, but revenue from its UK arm fell 19% to £21m and in Australia it reversed by 22% to £12m.

However, the steepest slide was at its business it calls rest of the world, which includes the Middle East and Asia, where revenue fell 71% to just under £13m.

Overall revenue was down 29% to £70m with pre-tax profit at the practice also heading south, falling one third to just under £4m.

In a note accompanying its accounts, the architect said: “Group revenue suffered from the challenging economic conditions and particularly the restrictions on government expenditure on publicly-funded infrastructure projects, as well as lack of confidence in parts of the private market.”

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In a separate statement, the firm, which is working on the new HS2 station at Curzon Street in Birmingham, said some jobs in the Middle East and Australia had faced “repeated delays”.

In the accounts, Grimshaw added the falls meant it has begun a cost-cutting programme and pared back the number of people employed at the business. “The suspension of certain major projects during the year [meant] the group reacted by significantly downsizing,” it added.

Figures in the accounts show the number of staff employed at the year-end was down 23% to 463 with the firm’s annual wage bill falling 16% to £29.5m as a result.

But in a separate statement, chief financial officer Neil Boyde said trading had improved more than eight months into its new financial year.

He added: “We have particularly seen increased opportunities in the aviation and infrastructure and industrial sectors and the practice is already trading better in the current year.”