Strong growth in key markets more than tripled profit at builders Sisk to almost €36 million last year, its holding company said on Friday.
Sicon Ltd, the holding company for the Sisk construction group, reported that turnover rose 43 per cent to €2.5 billion last year from €1.74 billion in 2022. Pre-tax profit grew more than 300 per cent to €35.9 million in 2023 from €11.5 million the previous year.
Paul Brown, chief executive of John Sisk & Son, noted that the group’s financial performance last year was strong. He predicted that its financial strength, combined with the quality of the projects on which it is currently working, “will enable us to capture further opportunities to deliver sustainable growth”.
The group said it had secured work worth more than €2 billion for this year with strong prospects for 2025.
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Sisk operates mainly as a construction and engineering contractor in Ireland, Britain and Europe.
A breakdown of its figures show that Irish turnover grew around 40 per cent to €1.4 billion in 2023 from slightly less than €1 billion in 2022. The high-profile projects on which the company worked included the €125 million Dunkettle interchange in Cork, which officially opened this year. The interchange is the junction of four national roads including routes connecting Cork with Dublin, Waterford and Rosslare.
It is also working on the Foynes-Limerick rail line, where it hopes to complete track-laying by the end of the year. Sisk is also involved in the Vantage data centre campus in Profile Park in Grange Castle, Dublin and the redevelopment of the glass bottle site in Poolbeg on the capital’s southside.
The group said that strong activity in key areas of the building industry in which it operates benefited its Irish business. Those areas include construction for the data, technology, life sciences and pharmaceutical industries among others.
Sisk had a strong order book for this year “with a good line of sight into 2025″, said a statement.
Turnover in Britain grew almost 30 per cent to €633 million from €491 million, according to the figures. Sisk recently won a high-profile contract with Manchester City Football Club for a project that involves adding 7,000 seats to Etihad Stadium along with commercial space, fan experience and other facilities.
Among the other projects in which it was involved was the construction of a new ferry terminal in Liverpool for the Isle of Man government.
Sisk noted that recognising costs dating back to legacy contracts left the UK division with a loss last year. The group predicted that it would return to profit this year on the back of a strong order book.
Turnover in Europe grew 80 per cent to €450 million from €249 million. The business consolidated its position there last year by securing several large projects.
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