Last updated 11 January 2023
Winvic Group
Winvic Group is a privately-owned, medium-sized company formed in 2001 and based in Northampton. The group operates nationally and specialises in building industrial space such as warehouses and distribution outlets and other related sectors. Winvic also provides fit-out and facilities management services and turns over more than more than £1 billion a year and is amongst the UK’s top 10 contractors.
Financials
After a dip in the previous year, turnover in the 12 months to January 2022 rebounded strongly to edge just past the £1 billion mark (2021: £659.3 million). Profits rose at a slower rate, edging up to £15.6 million at both an operating and pre-tax level (2021: £13.9 million).
To view the financials for Winvic Group, visit Companies House and use Company ID 05881912.
Operations
Winvic specialises in design and construct work in the industrial, fit-out, civils & infrastructure, multi-room and retail & leisure sectors. The group’s focus is particularly on working for blue chip clients and customers include privately-owned developers such as IM Properties, SEGRO, Stoford and Taylor Grange.
Winvic has been working on increasingly larger projects, including the £552.8 million Panattoni Park development in Swindon (Project ID: 22422794), the £240 million SEGRO Logistics Park at Northampton Gateway (Project ID: 21280277) and the £133.7 million Brentwood Enterprise Park for St Modwen (Project ID: 17137189).
The group has also expanded into new sectors, including extreme sports facilities and providing student and hotel accommodation and the build-to-rent sector for clients such as Aberdeen Investments, Cassidy, Grainger and Stamford Property.
Glenigan Data
After a strong rebound in the previous year, Glenigan’s research showed that in the 2022 calendar year orders at Winvic continued to balloon, leaping to £1,609.7 million (2021: £1,195.5 million) and the group continued its rise up the industry’s top 10 contractors to finish the year in fourth place (2021: seventh).
Conclusion: Targets surpassed
Since forming after the turn of the Millennium, Winvic’s revenue has burgeoned as the group has been one of the construction industry’s great beneficiaries in the boom in logistics work. Turnover virtually doubled between 2011 and 2012 before the recession took hold and, revenue fell away. A strong rebound was curtailed by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which accelerated the UK public embracing home shopping and once again the group produced a major revival as turnover passed the £1 billion mark.
In the last financial year, continuing uncertainty from the Brexit vote the destabilising impact of the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK’s top ‘shed specialist’ had a knock-on effect at Winvic. Only 28 projects were completed (2021: 35 projects) but 46 new projects were secured as Winvic continued to capitalise on a shift in capital spending by leading UK retailers away from the high street and more towards distribution depots to service online spending.
The management had expect turnover in the 2022 financial year to reach £985 million and easily beat this projection. Glenigan’s data suggests this growth looks set to continue with Winvic’s order book doubled between 2020 and 2022. This more recent growth has been achieved by taking on larger projects, which are typically riskier. In 2022, the average contract award was valued by Glenigan at £43.5 million (2021: £25.4 million).
The group’s exposure has traditionally been in the Midlands but Winvic has also increased regional market share elsewhere and features in the Top 10 contractors in four of the 11 British regions.
In 2022, Winvic was ranked first in Glenigan’s ranking of contractors by orders in the East Midlands for a third year in a row with an order book totalling £525.4 million (2021: £581.7 million) but has dropped out of the Top 10 in the West Midlands, where the group had been ranked first in 2021. Winvic’s focus has shifted to the South West and broken into the Top 10 with a 2022 order book of £470.6 million that merited second place. Winvic was also ranked eighth in the North West with orders of £130.4 million and tenth in the South East with a £113.2 million order book.
The residential sector continues to bear fruit both in terms of student accommodation and build-to-rent and Winvic has a development pipeline of 6,000 rooms, while the group has places on long-term civil engineering frameworks for National Highways and Lincolnshire County Council that could shift the balance of the order book more towards civil engineering, which provided just 2% by value of the 2022 order book (2021: 98% building/2% civil engineering).
The group has geared up for this and the workforce rose 11% in 2021 and another 24% in the latest year, when Winvic employed an average of 464 people (2021: 373 people). This pushed the wage bill up 30% to £32.6 million (2021: £25.1 million) and the operating margins fell back to 1.5% (2021: 2.1%).
However, net cash rose strongly to £126.4 million (2021: £79.4 million) and net current assets firmed to £52.3 million (2021: £52.4 million). With 90% of turnover secured from repeat clients, Winvic is particularly well-placed to take advantage of its specialisms in a sector, where the gap between projects being approved and starting is amongst the shortest in the entire construction industry.
Student accommodation work may not prove as plentiful but BTR is booming and with an order book of £1,685 million (2021: £1,348 million) covering 2022 and beyond, the management is confident of revenue reaching nearly £1.2 billion in the next trading year. All the indicators suggest that should be attainable.
How To Win Work With Winvic
Winvic has established a reputation as a progressive minded contractor, which values its workforce and sticks with a mature supply chain. The group is accredited to a range of industry bodies, including CHAS, Constructionline and the Considerate Constructors’ scheme and operates in compliance of ISO standards 1800:1 Occupational Health and Safety, 1400:1 Environmental and 9000:1. The group adopts a sustainable construction policy and is also a member of the Planet Positive scheme.
Winvic prefers to use local contractors and suppliers where possible and has used external agencies, such as J21, to help with this process. The group holds Risk Assessment Method Statement meeting with sub-contractors to help them produce better risk assessments and method statements and is extending these RAMS meetings throughout the supply chain partners.
Winvic has a list of prequalified subcontractors, but does use new companies as the group aims to both procure locally and provide the best possible service for clients.
Sub-contractors interested in working for Winvic are asked to send in their details via post for the attention of the commercial director at: Brampton House, 19 Tenter Road, Moulton Park, Northampton, NN3 6PZ. A questionnaire will then be sent out detailing Winvic’s requirements.
Key Winvic procurement contacts include:
Commercial director – Dave Markie, tel: 01604-678960
Technical services & sustainability director – Arun Thaneja, tel: 01604-678960
Pre-construction manager – Russ Keene, tel: 01604-678960
Pre-construction manager – Richard Reynolds, tel: 01604-678960
Civils managing quantity surveyor – Matthew Dalton, tel: 01604-678960