{"id":535283,"date":"2026-01-05T12:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=535283"},"modified":"2026-01-05T09:22:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:22:33","slug":"story-profit-steams-ahead-despite-rail-related-turnover-dip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/civils\/story-profit-steams-ahead-despite-rail-related-turnover-dip-05-01-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Story profit steams ahead despite rail-related turnover dip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Slow mobilisation on rail frameworks has contributed to a \u00a345m drop in turnover at civils specialist Story Contracting, although group pre-tax profit increased by 17 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>Accounts for its parent firm Story Contracting Holdings showed that the contracting division \u2013 responsible for 83 per cent of group revenue \u2013 posted turnover of \u00a3206.7m in the year to 31 March 2025, down from \u00a3253.3m <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/story-contracting-grows-revenue-and-profit-06-01-2025\/\">the previous year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis reduction is primarily attributable to the slower-than-anticipated mobilisation of activity under the CP7 [rail] frameworks,\u201d company secretary Neil Gass said in the strategic report with the accounts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the company retains a strong position across several key frameworks, delays in project approvals, ongoing industry reform, and broader economic pressures have affected the timing and volume of work released to the supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The accounts mentioned a \u201crobust pipeline of future opportunities\u201d and cited ongoing work on CP7 rail frameworks, plus a 12-year AMP8 framework with Northumbrian Water.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Cumbria-based\u00a0firm won new business on 14 frameworks in the past financial year. Examples include the United Utilities AMP8 Minor Works Framework and TFGM Civils Framework in Manchester, plus a place on a National Grid civils framework for energy infrastructure projects across the UK.<\/p>\n<p>The new work aligns with a diversification strategy that allows Story to expand its service offerings \u201cand enter new markets\u201d, said Gass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis strategic approach not only strengthens its core capabilities but also positions it to adapt to evolving industry demands and secure a broader range of projects in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since the period covered by the latest accounts, Story Contracting won a place on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/skills\/cumberland-council-appoints-two-dozen-firms-to-630m-construction-framework-20-11-2025\/\">Cumberland Council\u2019s \u00a3630m Capital Works (Construction) Framework<\/a>, which runs until December 2029.<\/p>\n<p>Overall running costs fell by \u00a340.1m, which helped the group\u2019s pre-tax profit rise by 17 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>This increase from \u00a37.9m to \u00a39.2m was also due to \u201cstrong project delivery and includes the substantial completion of projects for which loss provisions had been recognised\u201d, said Gass.<\/p>\n<p>Story Contracting Holdings was ranked 62nd in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/cn-intelligence\/data-dashboards\/cn100-turnover-profit-and-margin-23-08-2024\/\">last year\u2019s CN100 table<\/a>. Aside from its contracting arm, the firm includes plant, capital investment and renewable energy operations.<\/p>\n<p>The group saw its liquidity tighten last year as cash at hand almost halved from \u00a332.8m to \u00a317.9m, although it still paid out dividends worth \u00a395,000.<\/p>\n<p>It held no external bank loans or overdrafts.<\/p>\n<p>Average monthly headcount held steady at 947 employees compared with 944 the year before, although the group\u2019s annual wage bill rose by 5 per cent from \u00a353m to \u00a355.8m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Slow mobilisation on rail frameworks has contributed to a \u00a345m drop in turnover at civils specialist Story Contracting, although group pre-tax profit increased by 17 per cent. Accounts for its parent firm Story Contracting Holdings showed that the contracting division \u2013 responsible for 83 per cent of group revenue \u2013 posted turnover of \u00a3206.7m in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135716,"featured_media":374478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[549,552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civils","category-financial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Story profit steams ahead despite rail-related turnover dip | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Slow mobilisation on rail frameworks has contributed to a \u00a345m drop in turnover at civils specialist Story 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