£117.82m
-5.25p
167.75p
May Gurney Integrated Services plc
("May Gurney" or the "Company")
AGM Statement
May Gurney, the dynamic integrated support and construction services company providing maintenance and enhancement services to the highways, municipal waste, rail, utilities and general infrastructure markets, is due to hold its annual general meeting ("AGM") today. During the AGM Tim Ross, Chairman, will make the following statement:
"During the first three months of the current financial year we have taken further steps to build on our strong performance of 2007/08. Our order book has increased, we remain debt free, we are not exposed to the house building market, and have a fully funded pension scheme. All these factors confirm our confidence for the future and demonstrate the robustness of our business model - focusing on long-term customer relationships in resilient service markets - and the strength of our management team.
I am pleased to report that Norfolk County Council has announced, following a strategic performance review, that its long-term partnership contract with May Gurney is confirmed to 2012. This long-term highways maintenance contract (known as the Norfolk Strategic Partnership), which started in April 2004, includes programme management, highway operations, strategic planning and transportation, environment & waste, passenger transport and service development & support, and is valued at approximately £35 million per annum. We are delighted that Norfolk County Council has decided to confirm our contract for an additional three years.
We now have similar long-term highways contracts with 5 County Councils (Norfolk, Essex, East Sussex, West Sussex and Northamptonshire). Combined with our street lighting and municipal waste service contracts, this means that we are delivering on our stated strategy of offering wider services to our local government customers, together with a continued focus on developing long-term customer relationships.
The outlook in all of our key markets continues to be positive, with strong demand for our services and a robust order book of more than £1 billion, including framework contracts. Engineering and Project Services continues to tender selectively, focusing on quality of earnings, while Maintenance Services drives our growth. The integration of ECT Recycling, a leading operator in the municipal waste recycling market acquired in June this year, is proceeding as planned and we are confident that it will generate considerable future value as part of the May Gurney group.
Performance continues in line with managements' expectations, and with our high visibility of earnings and clear opportunities for growth, we continue to remain confident about our business prospects for the current financial year and beyond."
For further information please contact:
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May Gurney Integrated Services plc David Sterry, Chief Executive Michael Dunn, Group Finance Director |
01603 727272 |
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Citigate Dewe Rogerson Ginny Pulbrook |
020 7282 2945 |
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Altium Phil Adams/Paul Lines |
0161 831 9133 |
Notes to Editors
About May Gurney
May Gurney is a dynamic integrated support and construction services company providing maintenance and enhancement services to the highways, municipal waste, rail, utilities and general infrastructure markets, primarily with public sector and regulated sector customers, across the UK. The company focuses on long-term relationships, has 5,000 employees and delivers solutions through two primary business segments - Maintenance Services and Engineering & Project Services.
The Maintenance Services segment is focused on the core markets of highways and utilities. Activities include highways maintenance and waste services under long-term partnerships with local authorities and network improvement and maintenance services provided to major UK utilities networks under long-term framework contracts.
The Engineering & Project Services segment serves public and regulated sector customers across a broad range of industries. Core services include the enhancement of road and rail infrastructure, flood protection, ground remediation, foundations, geotechnical engineering and building.
For further details about May Gurney please go to www.maygurney.co.uk which gives further information on the business and the disclosures required under AIM Rule 26.
About the Norfolk Strategic Partnership
This is a partnership contract between the Planning & Transportation department of Norfolk County Council, May Gurney, and design consultants Mott MacDonald.
This partnership covers the following areas:
Maintenance and repairs to highways, footways, and public Rights of Way. This includes delivering the county's annual surface dressing programme.
Inspection, maintenance and repair of street lighting and illuminated signs.
Local minor highways improvement schemes.
New major highway, bridge, and public transport infrastructure schemes up to £10m.
Landscaping and asset management planning.
Integrated transport planning.
Development of new strategies for the disposal of waste.
Economic development.
The integrated team shares a co-located office at our Head Office in Norwich. The Partnership has established a unified team culture, with shared objectives, and an effective joint management and decision-making structure.
The Partnership aims to provide best value by improving efficiency in the delivery of projects and services. Reducing overheads within a highly predictable budget allows the Council to allocate resources to other development areas.
The Partnership is involved from the conceptual stage of individual projects, offering the benefit of our buildability experience. Designs are assessed in-house at the earliest stages to see where value engineering savings can be made. The supply chain is also involved from the earliest stages of projects, and is an essential part of the management process. Construction is carried out in conjunction with the Council's direct labour organisation.
Continual Improvement is an essential part of the Partnership. Innovation that produces efficiency savings is driven by pain / gain capped profit arrangements. Performance management follows a "balanced scorecard" approach. Key Performance Indicators include "soft" metrics that measure improvements in the team's working relationships.
May Gurney and its partners are always looking at new ways to innovate and integrate further with Norfolk County Council, with a view to enhancing the partnership through improving performance and delivering greater value for money.