Galliford Try's Kris Hampson: Sixth straight year of growth as order book hits £4.3bn

Galliford Try's Kris Hampson: Sixth straight year of growth as order book hits £4.3bn

Proactive

Wed, September 16, 2026 at 6:25 PM GMT+3

• GFRD.L +6.05%

Galliford Try Holdings PLC (LSE:GFRD, FRA:3WC) chief financial officer Kris Hampson spoke with Proactive's Stephen Gunnion about the construction group's latest results, growing order book, margin progression and outlook for 2027, as well as its approach to acquisitions and shareholder returns.

Hampson said Galliford Try delivered a sixth consecutive year of growth across key metrics, supported by its building, infrastructure and specialist services operations. Adjusted profit before tax rose 24% on revenue growth of 3% to nearly £56 million, with adjusted divisional operating margin advancing from 3% to 3.5% and average cash up 21% to £216.2 million. "We make revenue, we turn it into profit, and we turn that profit into cash," Hampson said.

Looking ahead, he highlighted the £4.3 billion order book, up 5%, with more than 90% of current-year revenue already secured, alongside 60% for 2028. He said 91% of the order book sits within long-term frameworks and 95% is with government and regulated clients.

Hampson also discussed opportunities across water, highways, education and affordable housing, including growth tied to AMP8, newer frameworks on improved terms, and expects continued progression towards the group's 4% adjusted operating margin target for 2030.

On capital allocation, Galliford Try announced a £15 million share buyback alongside its results, following last year's £10 million buyback. Hampson also discussed the company's active M&A pipeline and its commitment to maintaining a dividend at 1.8 times cover based on adjusted EPS.

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00:00 Chris Hamson

And what you see is the order book up 5% to 4.3 billion pounds. A really strong increase in the order book. We've 90 odd percent of this year's revenue already secured and pleasingly, 60% of 2028. Um, so we've got a really good order book, really high quality work. It's work that we know how to do and we want to do. 91% of it sits in long-term frameworks and 95% sits with government and regulated clients.

00:30 Steven

Hello, you're watching Proactive. I'm joined by Chris Hamson, Chief Financial Officer at Galliford Try. Chris, very good to speak with you again. Can you give us an introduction to Galliford Try for those who may not already know you?

00:53 Chris Hamson

Thanks Tim. Good morning, good to see you again. Yeah, so for those for those of us who don't know Galliford Try, we are a leading high quality UK tier one construction group. And we construct the critical social and economic infrastructure of the UK. What do I mean by this? I mean schools, prisons, roads, affordable housing, water infrastructure. Alongside that, we have some specialist services and technology businesses that we'll talk about later.

01:21 Chris Hamson

We set out six years ago when we created the group in this current format to create a sustainable and investible tier one construction group. And with the results today, I'm pleased to say we can show six years of consecutive growth across our key key metrics. The key point for me here is we have a model that is diversified and can grow sustainably and profitably going on towards our targets in 2030.

01:43 Chris Hamson

What underpins that? Well, we all know that much of the UK's infrastructure is in serious need of upgrading. The roads, the schools, the hospitals, you know, they need some serious work and we're well placed to do that. Our high quality delivery model, strong commercial practices and risk management means we're well placed to benefit from those significant required and planned and funded investments in infrastructure in the UK.

02:16 Steven

Chris, as you said, you've reported a sixth consecutive year of growth, profit materially ahead of market expectations. What's the key drivers behind that?

02:30 Chris Hamson

Yeah, a couple of key drivers really for me. Revenue, if I start there, Steven. Uh, we guided us uh, last time we spoke that revenue would be flatter in the year for 2026. Uh, we knew about the transition from amp 7 to amp 8 in our water business where we're one of the leading players in the market. I'm pleased to say that that transition has gone smoothly uh, and the environment division, which was expecting to be flat, grew marginally, that's good. But also, um, our highways division, uh, had an exceptional year delivering three major projects open to traffic in the air, including the famous Pork Pie Way in Milton Mowbray. So that's one of our highlights for the year. So a really good uh delivery from our highways business. Building was marginally down on revenue, um up in the first half, slightly down in the second half. Just some delayed decision making outside of our control uh on preferred bidder contracts. We're you know, that revenue has moved into 2027. so we haven't lost it. We're pleased about that. But the order book for building is up by 8%. Um, so, you know, building had a good year nonetheless. And really, I think the standout position here is the margin as you say. We uh, we've got a 2030 target of 4% uh adjusted operating margins. Last year we were at 3% and we're pleased to move that forward by 53 basis points in one year to 3.5%. And what's most pleasing to me is that both building and infrastructure moved their marg margins forward. And what drives that? Well, I think three or four things really drive that. Commercial discipline, you know, taking the right contracts on the right terms, quality project execution, building it right first time with no defects. Our specialist services businesses that I mentioned earlier, they're really starting to grow now and and find some scale and as you know, they have higher margins and we expect that to wait us up towards the 4% as we go. And then finally, we've been very disciplined about how we manage the interest income on our on our cash and our investments and our interest income grew by nearly 45%. So we're really, really pleased about all of those things uh driving. What that means is our adjusted profit before tax rose by 24% on revenue growth of 3% to nearly nearly 56 million pounds. so really strong there and that drove EPS up by 23.1% uh to nearly 42.4p. So all in all, you can see we've grown revenue, we've turned it into profit. And then pleasingly on cash, our average cash, which is the most important measure that we have, it's it's measured across the 12 months, has that's grown by 21%, broadly in line with profits to 216 point uh 2 million pounds. And so that's the story really here. We we make revenue, we turn it into profit and we turn that profit into cash and we've done that for the last four or five years now very successfully. And our balance sheet remains very robust Steven. Uh, no bank debt, no pension liabilities. And so when we do generate cash, that gives us plenty of capital allocation optionality.

05:32 Steven

Looking ahead, Chris, what does 2027 look like for you and how supportive are your end markets?

05:46 Chris Hamson

So 2027 looks good. It's a year I'm genuinely excited about. Uh, we're sort of guiding to similar sorts of revenue growth uh next year. You know, the exceptional year in highways last year, uh we'll come off a little bit next year, but on the same, on the same basis, am revenues will grow now and indeed are growing now. We're seeing the orders coming through. We're moving from the design phase into the manufacturing construction phase. So similar sort of revenue growth but continued margin progression. And it's say same points, the new frameworks have higher margins and we believe our quality delivery, it'll drive us uh forward. So what you see is the order book up 5% to 4.3 billion pounds. So a really strong increase in the order book. We've 90 odd percent of this year's revenue already secured and pleasingly, 60% of 2028. Um, so we've got a really good order book, really high quality work. It's work that we know how to do and we want to do. 91% of it sits in long-term frameworks and 95% sits with government and regulated clients. These are the metrics that we've watched. These are the metrics that have underpinned our six years of consecutive growth. And it really allows us to plan capacity, teams and invest ahead of demand rather than behind. And the last little bit just to to to point out, you know, we're on on site now for our first affordable homes project in Chester and we look forward to really making progress there. The end markets are great. We know about the 725 million pounds uh investra infrastructure plan from the government. Uh we know in specific markets, um ampaid up to 104 billion. We're already talking to some water companies about 9, 10 and 11, that takes us out to 2045 revenues. So the visibility there is better than we've ever seen. Um and we see other places uh s 3 came out 27 billion pounds. uh the new education frameworks come out 22 billion pounds, 39 billion pounds for affordable homes of which 10 billion pounds has now been allocated. So we've positioned ourselves specifically in these growth markets and we're really starting to see those markets uh sing now. We're really finding our stride. So as we bring all of those strong markets together with our commercial discipline and our ability to turn revenue into profit to cash, we we sit pretty well and we're feeling very confident about the future.

08:18 Steven

And Chris, you've announced a new share buyback alongside today's results. How should investors think about capital allocation and returns from here?

08:34 Chris Hamson

Yeah, and I think this is a message we're leaning into a little bit more in the messaging today, Steven. So, you know, six years of growth, six years of turning revenue to profit to cash. We've done really well on capital allocation in the last few years. We've spent some 150 million pounds, five deals including the Valley fire acquisition we've done this year. We're pleased that deal's going well. It's ahead of plan and we're growing that business organically already as we introduce them to our client base, which is one of our key differentiators. So, as we look forwards and we think we can continue to deliver revenue and profit. We talked about the order book and the visibility, we'll turn that into cash, that gives us lots of optionality going forward. So our thinking on that is, um, you know, we have a 1.8 times cover uh dividend on our adjusted EPS. We will maintain that going forwards. Uh that's key to us. So as we grow revenue and profits, we'll grow that dividend. It is the strongest dividend cover in the sector. We're proud of that and we remain committed to it. Um beyond that, there will still be significant amounts of free capital to deploy. So on M&A, we're leaning into that a little bit more as I say. We've got an active pipeline, we're screening a couple of key sectors, uh in environment, um that is our specialist water businesses and capital maintenance businesses. and outside of that and our building division, it's sort of hard FM, fire and asset security. Those are the sectors we want to play. These are growing uh but fragmented markets where we have the ability to uh introduce those companies to our broad client base and help them grow revenues and margins faster than perhaps anyone else. So we're pleased to say we've got active pipelines. We're looking into those and where we can do those deals, we will, they'll be the right terms, the right deals on the right terms at the right price and we'll be as disciplined about that as we are our contract selection. Um but some years, you know, deals may not come along or the right deals may not come along. and can be lumpy like that. We know that. So in those years, the sort of mix of capital allocation may be towards returns. Um and as you see this year, we've made a a share buyback of 15 million pounds on top of the 10 million pounds that we completed last year. So, you know, uh we're very pleased to be able to do that. It's the right thing for shareholders. Um and as I say, over the last five years, we've returned nearly 150 million pounds. What I would say is we'll make the decisions about returns in the light of our active pipeline. So if we think there are deals coming to fruition, we won't return. So we're very disciplined about what we do. We've got a good plan, we've got a good ecosystem around all of it. So all in all, you know, it's been a really, really good year for us in in 2026. We're really pleased with the outputs. um, turn revenue to profit to cash as I say and then, you know, we've turned that cash into capital allocation. We've reinvested some 70% of our profit for the year in in returns to shareholders and in investments back into the business. So I think that's what we're here to do and we're really pleased to do it.

11:39 Steven

Chris, I hope you continue to keep us updated with your progress. Very good speaking with you today.

11:47 Chris Hamson

Good to see you, Steven. Thank you very much.

11:51 Steven

That's Chris Hamson, CFO at Galliford Try.