Construction, infrastructure and support services firm Robertson expects to grow its 1,300-strong workforce after taking its long-term order book to more than £1.67 billion.
The company, which is currently preparing its accounts for the year to the end of March, said it expected to highlight its strongest ever and most visible backlog of work when it publishes its report later this year.
Robertson, which is headquartered in Elgin but has a major base in Stirling, said it had seen “continued and sustainable growth” throughout the recession, most notably in its construction and facilities management arms.
The firm had particular success in public-private developments, working on a host of school and healthcare projects across Scotland and northern England and being appointed to the Scottish Government’s £500 million Amber Blue major works consortium for east central Scotland.
Yesterday it said new building services and civil engineering divisions had also proven profitable during their first full year of trading.
Highlights were said to include a £17m refurbishment of the Glasgow Caledonian University and an expansion of operations in Liverpool following a facilities management deal with Everton Free School.
Other contracts include a £27m replacement for Dundee’s 1,100-pupil Baldragon Academy, a £31m rebuild of the city’s Harris Academy and a £24m community campus in Brechin.
Robertson’s major project team has also been awarded preferred bidder status for the construction of a new £100m Moray distillery and visitors centre for The Macallan.
The boost means Robertson’s facilities management arm now has an order book totalling some £1.25bn, with confirmed secured construction and homes contracts taking the total to £1.67bn.
Chairman Bill Robertson expects to report “a significantly strengthened balance sheet with a net worth of more than £50m”, accompanies by an expectation-beating profit position.
“We are delighted with the continued progress across all of our 12 operating companies, and we are seeing positive investment trends from both the public and private sectors,” he said.
“The group is half way through a five-year strategic change programme and we are proud to have the visibility and strong capital position to deliver high quality projects and services to our clients,” he added.
Robertson successfully arranged a new long-term banking facility with Santander earlier this year, and said it would “continue to utilise its cash and funding base to invest further in its private and affordable homes businesses as well as in public-sector infrastructure projects”.
The group netted £73m late last year after selling its majority shareholding in investment firm Elgin Infrastructure and wholly-owned subsidiary Robertson Capital Projects Investments to a City of London-registered investment fund.