Fulcrum, the UK’s leading independent multi-utility infrastructure and services provider, has reported strong performance during the past six months, including new contracts and a growth in its acquired utility assets, ahead of its Annual General Meeting today (27 September 2017).
In a pre-close trading update, the Sheffield-based company has revealed that it has seen its order book increase by 11 percent to £33.7m since March 2017.
Fulcrum, which delivers multi-utility infrastructure services to British residential, commercial and industrial markets, has secured a number of significant projects in this period.
Among them is a £2.4m contract to deliver new gas infrastructure to three Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) sites across the UK. These sites will convert gas to electricity at times of peak demand. The company has also been awarded a £0.4m project to convert another distillery in Scotland from its existing fuel source to natural gas with the installation of a 1.8km gas pipeline.
Fulcrum has continued to build its presence in the UK house building sector providing infrastructure services to a number of developments.
These have included a £0.2m multi-utility contract to deliver gas, water and electricity infrastructure to a new 61-plot housing development in the West Midlands and a £0.2m dual fuel contract in the South East to install gas and electricity connections to 101 new homes.
In line with its strategy, Fulcrum is also growing the annuity revenue streams associated with the adopted assets it constructs, alongside assets it acquires from other Utility Infrastructure Providers (UIPs). The growth in the gas assets secured from UIPs has seen Fulcrum’s committed external capital spend increase from £2.8m, as at 31 March 2017, to £6.4m at 31 August 2017.
Fulcrum is also on course to secure anIndependent Distribution Network Operator (IDNO) licence by the end of 2017, which will enable the adoption and ownership of electricity assets from early 2018.
The IDNO licence is an important strategic step for Fulcrum, allowing it to broaden and increase its long-term income stream by adopting the electricity assets constructed both in-house and by other contractors.
As a result of the company’s recent performance and the successful execution of its strategy, the Board has the confidence that results will be in line with market forecasts for the financial year ending 31 March 2018. Fulcrum will announce its half-year results on Tuesday 5 December 2017.
The Board will also propose a resolution at the Annual General Meeting for the payment of a final dividend of 1.3 pence per ordinary share, taking the total dividend paid for the year to 1.9 pence for the year, which is up from 0.9p in 2016.
Martin Harrison, Chief Executive Officer, stated: “The successful execution of the Company’s strategy continues to place Fulcrum in a strong financial and operational position.
“Our commitment to customer service excellence, the enhancement of our in-house multi-utility capabilities and sustained focus on construction and asset growth, provide a robust foundation to build upon the performance achieved in the first half of the year. We therefore look with confidence to the full year 2018 and beyond.”