Briggs & Forrester has sold off its building maintenance arm to focus on “core contracting activities” in the UK.
In a LinkedIn post, building facility management firm BGIS UK and Ireland announced it had bought Briggs & Forrester Building Services Maintenance.
Briggs & Forrester Group chief executive Paul Barton said the sale would allow it to “concentrate on its core contracting activities across the UK” and improve its balance sheet.
“That will support investment within the group,” he added, saying it was the culmination of “a five-year period of strategic change”.
BGIS said the acquisition would allow it to “further strengthen its position”, as it will be able to offer an “expansion of technical services to meet the evolving needs of our clients”.
It did not disclose how much it paid Briggs & Forrester.
Briggs & Forrester reported a pre-tax profit of £2.7m in its latest accounts, for the year to 31 October 2023. That was an increase on the £1.6m profit it made the year prior, while turnover slipped from £229.2m to £212.5m.
The building services maintenance arm made a profit of £456,000, according to those accounts.
In the accounts, Briggs & Forrester hailed a “significant turnaround in [its]performance and fortunes”, as its major projects for the year reached or neared completion, with some achieving higher margins than were expected.
Its cash pool more than doubled to £18.6m in comparison to £7m, which it put down to improved trading conditions and a “continued focus on cash management”.
Its order book also reached a record of £501m, nearly £100m higher than the prior year, when it came in at £406m. £246m of the £501m was for the year to the end of 2023/24.
