Last updated 31 January 2023
FES Holdings Ltd
FES Holdings Ltd is the parent company of FES, a privately owned specialist mechanical and electrical contracting operation formed in 1963 in Scotland. The group works across England and Scotland, employs around 700 staff and turns over £125 million a year.
Financials
Turnover at FES Holdings Ltd in the 12 months to August 2022 slumped 22% to £124.5 million (2021: £159.8 million) and operating profits retreated to £2.1 million (2021: £3.2 million). At a pre-tax level, profits fell 35% to £1.6 million (2021: £2.9 million).
To view the financials for FES Holdings Ltd, visit Companies House and use Company ID SC618500.
To view the financials for Forth Holdco Ltd, visit Companies House and use Company ID SC201964.
Operations
In 2019, the group reorganised and created a separate business, Forth & Oban (Stirling) Limited, which includes all the operations for FES Limited, Claud Hamilton Electrical Services and Oban Electrical Services. This business is wholly owned by FES and is contracted to supply staff for FES Holdings.
The two businesses now have a total of 10 divisions. Outside of the FES/Forth branding, the group also owns Claud Hamilton Electrical Services in Aberdeen and Oban Electrical Services, which are based in the west coast of Scotland.
At FES, the business has two divisions: mechanical and electrical work and a smaller facilities management division.
FES
The core mechanical and electrical sector is the core operation and operates as FES with its headquarters in Stirling and other offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Oban, Reading, Romford and Stornoway.
This division works on electrical contracting and maintenance, design, surveying and inspection, testing, mechanical distribution, fire detection, co-ordination, prefabrication and ventilation.
FES works for a range of clients from contractors such as Lovell to housebuilders including Avant, Bellway and Persimmon to housing associations such as Yorkshire Housing to local authorities including Derby City Council and utilities including Scottish Water. FES also works for many of the UK’s top main contractors, including Balfour Beatty, BAM Construct and Seddon.
The group works on projects in education, healthcare, government and public partnerships, defence, transport, the industrial sector, technology & data centres, commercial property and sport & leisure. Schools and health work, particularly in Scotland, is increasingly important and FES is working on major projects such as the University of Glasgow’s £75 million Research Hub (Project ID: 14425274).
FES works on flagship projects including the £100 million Mackintosh Restoration scheme in Glasgow (Project ID: 1832635) and on commercial developments, such as the £74.2 million Atlantic Square development in Glasgow (Project ID: 09143724). FES also works in social housing on a number of long-term frameworks, such as the Hebridean Housing Partnership’s £27 million planned reactive maintenance agreement (Project ID: 19306031).
The group is also working on solar schemes including the installation of 768 panels at Scottish Water’s Horizon’s waste water treatment plant in Denny (Project ID: 22321466) and 1,400 PV panels at Roughmute WTW (Project ID: 22344180).
In 2022, turnover from mechanical and electrical work fell to £111.5 million (2021: £143.5 million).
FES Facilities Management
This division provides facilities management services to a range of clients and works on long-term agreements, such as the £800 million proposal to retrofit many council and housing association properties in Scotland for Scotland Excel (Project ID: 17009660).
In 2022, turnover from facilities management work fell to £13.1 million (2021: £16.4 million).
Glenigan Data
Glenigan”s data shows FES is working on a number major schemes on site in 2023 including the £90 million Dunfermline Learning Campus in Fife (Project ID: 16169284) and a £100 million prison in Glasgow (Project ID: 19429386).
Conclusion: The continued pull of FM?
The 2019 review that hived off the bulk of the support services and facilities management businesses appears to have had a better effect on those businesses than at the remaining M&E operations.
The review removed a low-margin business from Forth, where turnover in the 12 months to August 2022 rose to £192.4 million (2021: £181.8 million) and operating profits edged up to £10.9 million (2021: £10.5 million). At a pre-tax level, profits rose at a faster rate and hit £13.5 million (2021: £11.5 million).
Operating margins have slipped to 1.7% (2021: 2.0), which is at the lower end of the spectrum for a specialist M&E business and costs have been cut. In 2022, the workforce was trimmed by 7% as turnover fell and FES employed an average of 700 people (2021: 754 people). This reduced the wage bill to £25.8 million (2021: £28.6 million).
Although the group has successfully expanded out of the core M&E operation, Forth and FES remains synonymous with this particular specialism. The company has pressed on with a policy of diversification and works in sectors from education and financial services to defence, transport and social housing to installing PV panels with a continued focus on developing long-term relationships. This has included an expansion of in-house services as part of a ‘cradle to the grave’ approach.
M&E work remains the main generator of revenue at FES, but across the two business there is a clear focus on facilities management. Including FES, the turnover of both groups is now £294 million (2021: £312 million) with more than £200 million coming from facilities management at both operations, but the M&E operation is clearly the poor relation. Cash at the bank and in hand at FES fell to £9.3 million (2021: £23.6 million). Across the two businesses, total cash balances were £39 million (2021: £59 million).
FES remains profitable and a key brand in M&E and in 2022 declared an accepted order book of £130 million and an £800 million pipeline of ‘known opportunities’. The group is likely to remain a major player in the M&E sector but the pull of FM may increase revenue in this sector at a faster rate than the core specialism.
Winning Work With FES
FES is registered and accredited to a range of industry standards from the British Safety Council and the National Electricity Registration Scheme to Achilles, CHAS, Constructionline and Select. All the principal operating companies are accredited to OHSAS 18001, ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and ISO 50001 and OHAS 18001.
In the first instance, any companies interested in any of the services provided by FES are asked to email: bids@fes-group.co.uk
Key FES procurement contacts include:
FES group procurement director – Colin Mackinnon
Tel: 01786-819600
Group bid manager – Laura Connelly
Tel: 01786-819600
FES senior contracts surveyor – Colin Ramsay
Tel: 01786-819600