Higgins suffers loss for second year running

摘要

Higgins Group suffered a £3.1m pre-tax loss last year, which the company attributed to a fall in workload amid the pandemic. The residential contractor and housebuilder's loss for the year ending 31 July 2020 followed a £4m loss in 2019. Revenue also plunged more than a fifth for the Essex-based firm, falling from £219.9m in 2019 to £168.3m. Chairman Richard Higgins said: "The results for the group were affected by a number of key projects that were anticipated to start but, due to the outbreak of a global pandemic, were delayed. Furthermore, the national lockdown saw [the] complete closure of our existing sites for several weeks." Profit was also affected by a revaluation of its investment property portfolio, which was written down by £1.3m. The steep revenue drop came from its contracting operations, Higgins Partnerships, where turnover almost halved, from £141.9m to £77.9m.The decline was partially offset by a rise in sales at its housebuilding business, Higgins Homes, where revenue rose from £77.5m to £90.4m.