Styles & Wood secures six contracts worth £23m

Styles & Wood, an integrated property services and project delivery specialist, secured six contracts worth £23m helped in large measure by a surge of activity in the Manchester market in recent months.

The contacts range across the commercial office, healthcare and hospitality sectors and five out the six contracts are in the north-west of the country.

The projects in Manchester include a £3m fit-out and refurbishment of a CARE fertility treatment clinic, a £6.2m commercial fit out-at One St Peter’s Square and a refurbishment of a grade II listed hotel.

It also includes a £3m fit-out of Dakota House in Concord Business Park in Wythenshaw and a refurbishment of a six-story site in Liverpool to create a 70 room hotel.

In London, the company secured with Aviva Investors a refurbishment of Irongate House. This is its second contract with Aviva Investors after securing the refurbishment of Westminster House in Manchester in 2015.

Chief executive Tony Lenehan said the contracts were an “endorsement of our diversification strategy, which continues to bear fruit and is enabling the business to support clients across industries as diverse as healthcare and hospitality.

"While we are continuing to win work and expand our portfolio in a variety of markets, the commercial fit-out sector also remains an important source of work for the business. The Manchester market in particular has witnessed a surge in activity in recent months, and as demand for premium space remains high, particularly across the North West, we are expecting this is trend to continue."

Following the new contacts Shore Capital, which acts as broker to Styles & Woods, said they updated their full year forecast expectations and they believe the environment for the company to leverage its skills remains positive.

Robin Speakman from Shore Capital said: “Cash flow is expected to remain robust and, indeed, is set to strengthen with growth and we expect the balance sheet and order book to continue to improve in coming quarters. We note a free cash flow yield of 8.9% for FY2016F, whilst funding growth, on our current estimates and delivering a small net cash position by the end of the year”.