Last updated 11 January 2023
Ogilvie Group
Ogilvie Group was formed as a construction business in 1946 by brothers Duncan & Jack Ogilvie. In addition to continuing to work as a contractor and build homes, Ogilvie has expanded into contract fleet hire, IT support and surveying. Based in Stirling, Ogilvie Group has an annual turnover of more than £300 million and employs over 500 staff.
Financials
In the year to June 2022, turnover including share of joint ventures, rose to £331.8 million (2021: £318.7 million) and operating profits rose strongly to £29.1 million (2021: £15.5 million) and pre-tax profits leapt to £22.9 million (2021: £10.2 million).
To view the financials for Ogilvie Group Ltd, visit Companies House and use Company ID SC029219.
Operations
Ogilvie Construction
Ogilvie’s contracting operation works in a range of commercial and public sectors from education and health to social housing. Clients range from local authorities and public bodies in Scotland such as Aberdeen City Council and Perth & Kinross Council and the Scottish Prison Service to private sector companies including Bricks and Crucible Developments to housing associations such as Sanctuary.
In the 2022 financial year, construction turnover fell back to £75.2 million (2021: £89.9 million).
Homes
Ogilvie operates independently as Ogilvie Homes and was one of Scotland’s leading housebuilders, but lack of mortgage ability led to reduced activity. The introduction of Help to Buy in Scotland improved conditions, while a joint venture with rival Stewart Milne, trading as Freedom Homes, was formed to work across Scotland’s central belt.
Schemes started during 2022 by Ogilvie include plots on the Blindwells and East Lothian development (Project ID: 21236304). In the 2022 financial year, revenue fell back to £49.7 million (2021: £52.8 million) on forward sales of 124 units at an average price of £252,000.
Ogilvie Fleet
Ogilvie Fleet is the group’s contract hire operation and is one of the UK’s top 20 contract fleet hire businesses and outsources work to rival contractors, such as Raymond Brown.
In July 2017, Ogilvie acquired Active Auto Solutions for £4.6 million. Two months later, Ogilvie bought Tilsun Vehicle Contracts for £1.7 million and this was followed by the acquisition of Scorpion Vehicle Management in January 2018.
In 2022, the fleet size grew to 21,000 vehicles (2021: 20,000 vehicles) and the management has funding for more growth over the next five years. In the year to June 2022, turnover rose to £197.3 million (2021: £168.3 million).
Net Defence
Formerly known as Ogilvie Communications, Net Defence offers communications and information technology to markets in the UK and the United States. In 2014, this division lost a major supplier and subsequently traded in the red. After a change in direction, Net Defence now provides IT and cyber security solutions to corporate clients.
Malcolm Hughes Land Surveyors
This division was formed in 2014 after Ogilvie acquired Swansea-based land valuers Longdin & Browing and initially traded as Ogilvie Geomatics. In 2015, Ogilvie acquired Loy Surveys, which provides topographical surveys, measured building services and utility mapping solutions across the UK, and then in 2017 acquired Malcolm Hughes Land Surveyors for £2.4 million. From January 2018, all these companies were amalgamated under the name Malcolm Hughes.
Glenigan Data
In the 2022 calendar year, Ogilvie won contracts valued at £250,00 or more totalling £14.0 million (2021: £64.8 million).
In 2022, Ogilvie submitted detailed planning applications to build 220 new homes (2021: 0 units).
Conclusion: Driving away from construction?
Ogilvie dropped out of Glenigan’s top 100 ranking of the UK’s largest contractors due to the continued failure of the Scottish Futures Trust to deliver sufficient investment in the education and health sectors, but revived after an influx of leisure work only for construction work to more recently drop off, due partly to delays.
A glut of hotel work for clients such as Premier Inns, Starwood Capital and Travelodge stopped as the onset of the coronavirus pandemic hit this sector and Ogilvie is well short of a place amongst the top 10 contractors in its native Scotland according to Glenigan’s research.
The company’s order book at June 2022 was put at £75 million (2021: £68 million) but Glenigan’s data for the full 2022 calendar year shows a retraction. The group is mainly focused on building work and avoids large, risky projects. In 2022, the average contract award was valued by Glenigan fell to £4.7 million (2020: £9.2 million).
Housebuilding had leapt on the back of historic approvals. Between 2017 and 2019, the planning pipeline grew by 86% but the planning programme halted in 2021 only to resume last year. Ogilvie has a healthy land bank of 1,500 plots, which including provided sites for 1,900 units (2021: 2,058 units) but in 2022 planning activity resumed. The focus was entirely on proposals for some form of house and the average application contained 55 units.
With poor returns in contracting and Net Defence also losing money, the management opted to cut the workforce by 9% in 2019. The latest year saw further cuts with the average number of employees reduced by 5% to 558 people (2021: 589 people). In construction, the average number of employees was reduced to 117 people (2021: 131 people) but the wage bill still edged up to £23.8 million (£23.3 million).
The strength of the fleet operation ensured that Ogilvie remained profitable during the virus but cash and cash equivalents remained negative but were reduced to £2.0 million (2021: £8.7 million). While trading is clearly improving at other parts of the group, the contracting operations face challenges from rises in labour and material costs going forward.
Winning Work With Ogilvie Group
Ogilvie Construction is a member of the Considerate Constructors scheme and the National House-Building Council. The group is accredited to schemes including CHAS and Constructionline and ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
Ogilvie is committed to a sustainable construction strategy. The group has taken part in NCH Scotland”s Youthbuild Project and aims to recruit a local labour force, utilise local suppliers and establish strong relationships with what the group describes as the ‘third sector’. Details on Ogilvie’s procurement policies can be found here.
Key Ogilvie procurement contacts include:
Construction director at Ogilvie Construction – Andy Day, tel: 01786-811811
Pre-construction director at Ogilvie Construction – Martin Poole, tel: 01786-812273
Senior estimator at Ogilvie Construction – David Craig, tel: 01786-812273
Operation director at Ogilvie Homes – Sandy Ogilvie, tel: 01786-811811
Sandy.ogilvie@ogilviehomes.co.uk