LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Van Elle said in an update on Thursday that it expects to report lower full-year revenue after project delays and subdued activity impacted trading in the 12 months ended 30 April, though profitability was preserved through cost control and stable margins.
The AIM-traded company - the UK's largest ground engineering contractor - said revenue for the year was projected at £134m, down around 4% from the prior year.

It put the decline down to widespread delays in contract starts, particularly those requiring Building Safety Act approvals.

Several major contracts originally scheduled for the final quarter had now been deferred into the new financial year.

Despite the softer top line, Van Elle anticipated reporting an underlying profit before tax of £3.5m, supported by strong operational delivery and targeted cost-saving measures.

The company ended the period with net cash of £1m, down from £5.5m a year earlier, after funding equipment investment and completing acquisition-related payments for Rock & Alluvium and Albion Drilling.

It said its order book stood at £41.5m at the end of April, up from £35.1m a year earlier.

That excluded a newly-awarded £10m industrial sector contract for the General Piling division secured in May.

The company said it retained significant liquidity headroom, with £6.5m undrawn from its £8m facility.

"The last 12 months have been challenging for the business, and although it is disappointing that a recovery in activity levels didn't materialise as expected, against a volatile backdrop the performance as a whole demonstrates the progress made over recent years," said chief executive officer Mark Cutler.

"Through organic initiatives and selective, strategic mergers and acquisitions, Van Elle now provides a wider and more diverse range of service offerings and is very well positioned across a range of attractive growth markets aligned to the UK government's investment priorities.

"Amongst an increasing number of frameworks, the group has agreed two more customer partnerships in the energy and water sectors and has a growing order book, underpinning our confidence in delivering strong growth in revenues and profitability when markets recover."

Van Elle said it would publish its full-year results on 23 July.

At 1100 BST, shares in Van Elle Holdings were down 4.38% at 36.81p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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