Last updated 6 February 2023
Clancy Group
Clancy Group was formed in 1958 as MJ Clancy & Sons and initially worked out of Wembley, north London. The group initially focused on ground works, drainage and road works before expanding into other areas such as Tunnelling. In 1974, Clancy bought out gas and water utilities contractor RE Docwra and also moved into development and plant hire, but has since moved out of multi-utility work.
The group now operates out of Middlesex, employs 2,300 people and turns over nearly £300 million a year.
Financials
After a fall in the previous year, turnover in the 12 months to March 2021 turnover rebounded to £292.9 million (2021: £255.2 million) but earnings failed to rise. At an operating level, Clancy’s profits slipped to £11.3 million (2021: £11.5 million) and the profit before tax fell to £10.6 million (2021: £11.1 million).
To view the financials for Clancy Group Holdings Ltd, visit Companies House and use Company ID 12500720.
Operations
Construction
The core civil engineering business operates from a headquarters in Harefield, Dartford, Sunderland and Livingston in Scotland. The group works in the water, energy, infrastructure and traffic sectors and also has a plant hire subsidiary.
Water is the core business and Clancy has long-term relationships with major utilities in this sector, notably Anglian Water, SES Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Thames Water. The group is on a number of long-term agreements, including the £5 billion Scottish Water Contractor Services Framework, which runs until 2027 (Project ID: 20282720).
Clancy is also part of the Optimise joint venture, which also features Barhale, J Murphy and MWH, which worked on Thames Water’s AMP5 programme on water pipes and sewers in north London and Thames Valley. Clancy also works for a number of other joint ventures including the SCS JV comprising Costain, Skanska and Strabag, and the EKFB JV featuring Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial and BAM Nuttall.
In the energy and multi-utility sector, Clancy has frameworks for Northern Powergrid and UK Power Networks. Work for UKPN includes a place on its £1 billion Capital Delivery Alliance (Project ID: 13389480). This contract involves four companies working from one office in London to refurbish and upgrade electricity substations, cables and power lines over a 12-year period.
In 2018/19, Clancy merged its civil and rail businesses into a capital projects division. Rail is also a core competence but focused in southern England with work for Transport for London and London Underground, London Overground and Docklands Light Railway. Clancy has also worked on Glasgow Underground and helped upgrade the Tyne & Wear Metro.
In 2022, overall turnover from civil engineering and utilities contracting rose to £289.0 million (2021: £248.1 million).
Clancy Plant Hire
Clancy is one of the UK’s larger plant hirers and services the group’s won needs, working in general and operated plant, transport, mobile communication, traffic management and recycling. To cut fleet and fuel costs, Clancy Plant hire bought a fleet telematics solution from Tracker. In 2022, separate accounts show that turnover rose to £49.5 million (201: £47.1 million) but pre-tax profits fell to £0.5 million (2021: £1.4 million).
Developments
Clancy Developments is the group’s housebuilding arm and has been building new homes for more than 30 years. The business works around London and the Home Counties. In 2022, turnover from residential property development fell to £2.6 million (2021: £3.0 million).
Traffic management
The group’s traffic management operation has traditionally supported in-house operations on utility contracts but has increasingly begun to work for external clients. In 2022, turnover from traffic management activities fell to £1.3 million (2021: £1.7 million).
Glenigan Data
Clancy did not feature in Glenigan’s ranking of the top 100 contractors by orders in the 2022 calendar year, due mainly to the disparate nature of the group’s activities and a strategy that eschews taking on major lump sum contracts. No planning applications for residential development were made in 2022.
Conclusion: Profits strengthen despite Covid-19 hit
As the group rebounds from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the positive impact from the decision to exit the multi utility market is filtering through. The multi-utility withdrawal, which included discontinuing the Docwra name, along with the exit from a contract with Scottish Power weighed on revenue in 2021 and the latest financial year brought an upturn in turnover.
Previously, margins had been helped by staff cuts but in 2022 Clancy employed an average of 2,294 people (2021: 2,229), which pushed the wage bill rising to £94.5 million (2021: £88.2 million).
With the group also ploughing £43 million over the last two years on a renewal of its plant and machinery, in particular in increasing its zero carbon fleet, net cash inflow fell to £15.2 million (2021: £22.6 million). However, cash and cash equivalents rose to £28.2 million (2021: £21.9 million).
Clancy continues to win places on long-term agreements including a £1.6 billion civils and infrastructure framework for Pagabo (Project ID: 21270187). While the group is on a number of these large value long-term agreements, the risk profile is relatively low. In 2022, Glenigan valued the average contract award at £2.3 million (2021: £7.6 million).
The order book has been maintained at £1 billion (2021: £1.0 billion) and Clancy started 2023 by winning its first major contract for the national programme to connect homes to the super-fast broadband network by 2026. With AMP7 water utility programme due to finish in 2025, Clancy’s revenue should get a further boost going forward.
Winning Work With Clancy Group Plc
Clancy is accredited to a number of industry bodies, including Achilles and CHAS. The group has successfully maintained quality, environmental and safety certification by LRQA to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and BS OHSAS18001. Clancy uses the IFS application ERP for real-time monitoring of the costs and profitability of specific construction projects. The group works with the Supply Chain Sustainability school and details can be found here.
Key Clancy procurement contacts include:
Head of bid management – Richard Venison, tel: 01895-823711
Richard.venison@theclancygroup.co.uk
Head of supply chain – Stephanie Downs, tel: 01895-823711
Stephanie.downs@theclancygroup.co.uk
Senior buyer – Qaeed Taibjee, tel: 01895-823711