Top 150 Contractors and Housebuilders 2022: Signs of hope in the economic phoney war

By Dave Rogers2022-12-14T06:01:00

Source: HM Treasury

Contractors are wary but the need for more recruits and a better-than-expected autumn statement mean it’s not all doom and gloom for the year ahead, writes Dave Rogers

Asked recently if he ever gets a good night’s kip on the eve of his firm’s annual results, Galliford Try chief executive Bill Hocking shot back: “I sleep like a log, mate.”

He has, of late, more reason than others to sleep soundly: last year, the firm saw the amount of cash it had in the bank go up, increased its turnover and hiked up its profit – before one-off items such as the cost of its deal for collapsed firm NMCN’s water business – by more than two-thirds.

He is aware enough to admit that whether a chief executive is going to sleep soundly or not on results eve is largely dependent on what is going to be published the following morning and, for some, the events of this year might mean more restless nights in the coming months.

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