Morgan Sindall

Morgan Sindall Group plc is a prominent UK construction and regeneration company, headquartered in London employing around 6,700 employees and operating in the public, regulated and private sectors. It reports through six divisions of Construction & Infrastructure, Fit Out, Property Services, Partnership Housing, Urban Regeneration and Investments. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

The company was established under the name ''Morgan Lovell'' by its founders, John Morgan and Jack Lovell, in 1977; it initially had £1,000 in capital and was based at Golden Square in Soho. Overbury, a fit out contractor which had been in business since 1942, was acquired by the company during 1985; rebranded as ''Morgan Lovell and Overbury'', the company quickly expanded throughout the UK around this time.

During 1994, Morgan Lovell and Overbury secured a listing on the London Stock Exchange in 1994 via a £13.5 million reverse takeover of the regional construction company William Sindall plc. William Sindall had been established in the 1860s, and was named for its founder, who was known for his work for the University of Cambridge. During July 1988, William Sindall had acquired Hinkins & Frewin, a company established in 1847, known for their work for the University of Oxford. The business operated from offices in Oxford, Cambridge, Banbury, Rugby and Fareham. While its share price had trended positively throughout the 1980s, William Sindall's fiscal health soured in the 1990s, incurring routine losses and making it vulnerable to such a takeover.

Following the reverse takeover, the combined company was named ''Morgan Sindall''; the positions of chairman and chief executive were both filled by John Morgan. The losses incurred by William Sindall before the merger worked to the firm's advantage to reduce its tax liabilities for some time thereafter. By the mid 1990s, the majority of Morgan Sindall's work was coming from large blue chip customers, such as Man Group, Bank of America, Standard Life and Thorn EMI.

By February 1996, Morgan Sindall made a pre-tax profit of £3.03 million; one year later, it announced a 71 percent rise in pre-tax profits. The firm embarked on a series of acquisitions around this time. During 1998, Morgan Sindall bought Lovell Partnerships from the financially stretched Lovell Group in exchange for £15 million; the business was one of the largest partnership housing operations in the UK and also had its own a private housebuilding division.

During August 2000, management of the firm, which had a market value of just over £100m, was debt-free and had 38 percent of its shares owned by board members at that time, stated their ambitions to double turnover within four years and to expand the company's scope by 50 percent. In May 2001, the company purchased Carillion's social housing division. One year later, the company stated that it would not undertake further acquisitions for a while; furthermore, the company's order book exceeded £1 billion in value at this time.

In June 2007, Morgan Sindall purchased the construction arm of AMEC; this acquisition later proved to be problematic, leading to a £15 million write-off and legal action between the two firms over project liability. During September 2009, Morgan Sindall was fined £287,000 by the Office of Fair Trading for its involvement in cover pricing activities; the company subsequently announced that it had carried out a comprehensive review of its activities.

During September 2010, it purchased the repairs division of Connaught plc, saving 2,500 jobs in the process. In 2011, despite a sustained and sharp downturn in public spending amid the Great Recession, the firm's turnover exceeded £1 billion.

In early 2020, the company announced that it would be directing its resources into its housing division and did not plan to make any acquisitions in the foreseeable future. However, by 2024, Morgan Sindall was once again publicly interested in acquisition opportunities, while substantial sums continued to be invested into housing as well.

Operations

Morgan Sindall Group is a construction company and regeneration group operating in the public and commercial sectors. It operates through six divisions of construction and infrastructure, fit out, property services, partnership housing, urban regeneration and investments.

Major projects

Major projects included Murray Royal Hospital in Perth, completed in 2012, the expansion of Whitechapel station for Crossrail, completed in 2021, and construction of six new stations on the Northumberland Line completed in 2024.

Subsidiaries

Morgan Sindall Group plc own a number of subsidiaries, including:

References

External links

Official Group website

{{FTSE 250 Index constituents

Construction and civil engineering companies of the United Kingdom
Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1977
Companies based in the City of Westminster
1977 establishments in England
British companies established in 1977
Companies in the FTSE 250 Index