{"id":537761,"date":"2026-02-09T12:10:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T12:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=537761"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:47:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:47:04","slug":"robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robertson has stormed to a double-digit profit after a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to focus on \u201cquality over quantity\u201d reversed its fortunes, it said.<\/p>\n

The contractor\u2019s executive chairman Bill Robertson (pictured) hailed a \u201crobust\u201d year at the helm of the UK\u2019s 29th<\/sup> biggest contractor<\/a>, as it tabled a pre-tax profit of \u00a320.2m in the 12 months to 30 June 2025.<\/p>\n

It is a stark contrast to its performance the previous year, after three problem jobs pushed it to a pre-tax loss of \u00a39.7m.<\/a><\/p>\n

Robertson, who set up the firm nearly 60 years ago, said the profit \u201crepresents a strong and immediate recovery from 2024\u201d, adding that his firm achieved it despite clients pausing or delaying a number of construction projects. He also said his firm had to face \u201crelatively challenging and uncertain construction markets\u201d last year.<\/p>\n

Turnover did, however, dip from \u00a3825m to \u00a3792.9m, which Robertson put down to a \u201cconcerted effort to focus on the quality of our workload over quantity\u201d, and the completion of two major construction projects in the prior year.<\/p>\n

Cash at the contractor was up, coming in at \u00a3218.5m in comparison to \u00a3207m. Robertson paid out a dividend of \u00a315m, compared with \u00a315.2m in the prior year.<\/p>\n

Robertson also carried out an extensive review of the projects that pushed it to its \u201cdisappointing, yet avoidable\u201d result from the year before, its executive chairman said.<\/p>\n

The firm has since \u201cfully embedded\u201d the lessons it learned from the review into its processes, he added.<\/p>\n

The board also decided to reduce its work in the civil engineering sector following a number of unspecified challenges within its civil engineering business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will still undertake civil engineering activity but it will be managed within our small works divisions at regional business level as opposed to a standalone company,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n

Robertson\u2019s main construction business Robertson Construction also returned to a profit of \u00a330.7m, after a loss of \u00a34.3m the previous year. It is split into eight regional businesses, seven of which made a profit, Robertson said. He also said some of the regional construction businesses made profits \u201cwell in excess of their business plans\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regional construction business model plus our capability to undertake larger projects, supported by the numerous frameworks in which we participate, generates significant opportunities for [Robertson\u2019s construction arm],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Robertson tabled a provision for the year of \u00a33.6m, linked to an intercompany loan that the firm does not expect to recover.<\/p>\n

It did not specify which firm owed it \u00a33.6m, but added it was under \u201ccommon shareholder ownership\u201d, and is not a subsidiary of its ultimate parent firm, Newlands (Elgin) Holdings Ltd.<\/p>\n

Last year Robertson spent \u00a3212,000, as it predicted, resolving unnamed defects on projects, it added. But it has not made any further provisions related to project defects.<\/p>\n

Robertson has recently scooped a number of large jobs, particularly in the healthcare sector. Last May it won a \u00a338m job to remove reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete<\/a> (RAAC) from Royal Bolton Hospital\u2019s Maternity and Women\u2019s Health Unit, while last month, it took on an ex-Merit project to complete construction of the new Berwick Community<\/a> Hospital in Northumberland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robertson has stormed to a double-digit profit after a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to focus on \u201cquality over quantity\u201d reversed its fortunes, it said. The contractor\u2019s executive chairman Bill Robertson (pictured) hailed a \u201crobust\u201d year at the helm of the UK\u2019s 29th biggest contractor, as it tabled a pre-tax profit of \u00a320.2m in the 12 months to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90643,"featured_media":471274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-financial","issue-online-news"],"yoast_head":"\nRobertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robertson has stormed to a double-digit profit after a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to focus on \u201cquality over quantity\u201d reversed its fortunes, it said. The\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robertson has stormed to a double-digit profit after a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to focus on \u201cquality over quantity\u201d reversed its fortunes, it said. The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-09T12:10:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-09T18:47:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joshua Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\"},\"headline\":\"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-09T12:10:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-09T18:47:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Financial\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/\",\"name\":\"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit | Construction News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-09T12:10:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-09T18:47:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\"},\"description\":\"Robertson has stormed to a double-digit profit after a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to focus on \u201cquality over quantity\u201d reversed its fortunes, it said. The\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"Bill Robertson\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Construction News\",\"description\":\"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\",\"name\":\"Joshua Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/09661283414c6a1a39b5867f8375fd1a\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joshua Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/joshua-stein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit | Construction News","description":"Robertson has stormed to a double-digit profit after a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to focus on \u201cquality over quantity\u201d reversed its fortunes, it said. The","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit","og_description":"Robertson has stormed to a double-digit profit after a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to focus on \u201cquality over quantity\u201d reversed its fortunes, it said. The","og_url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/","og_site_name":"Construction News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community","article_published_time":"2026-02-09T12:10:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-09T18:47:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg","width":620,"height":414,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joshua Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CNplus","twitter_site":"@CNplus","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua Stein","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/"},"author":{"name":"Joshua Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc"},"headline":"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit","datePublished":"2026-02-09T12:10:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-09T18:47:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/"},"wordCount":529,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg","articleSection":["Financial"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/","name":"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit | Construction News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-09T12:10:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-09T18:47:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc"},"description":"Robertson has stormed to a double-digit profit after a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to focus on \u201cquality over quantity\u201d reversed its fortunes, it said. The","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/Bill-Robertson.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"Bill Robertson"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/robertson-returns-to-profit-as-focus-on-quality-bears-fruit-09-02-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Robertson returns to profit as focus on \u2018quality\u2019 bears fruit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/","name":"Construction News","description":"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc","name":"Joshua Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/09661283414c6a1a39b5867f8375fd1a","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joshua Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/joshua-stein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537761"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":537814,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537761\/revisions\/537814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}