NEWS | Maintenance targeted


MAY GURNEY says its strat- egy of targeting resilient, maintenance-focused revenue streams has “proved success- ful against the background of a challenging economic envi- ronment.” The comment came as the group posted a 22% increase in revenue to £695.3M for the year ending March 2012 compared with the same period last year, while pre- tax profit was up 17% to £28.4M.


Commenting on the results, May Gurney chief executive, Philip Fellowes-Prynne, said the group had grown or- ganically, winning more than £400M of new work. He added: “May Gurney continues to benefit from


long-term visibility of rev- enues. Our order book stands at £1.5B, with a further £1.1B in potential contract exten- sions, and our bidding pipe- line is £4B in our core mar- kets. More than 95% of our business is delivering long- term essential services to the public and regulated sectors. “Whilst we continue to bid intelligently, our approach has always been to pursue value over volume, espe- cially as our markets become increasingly competitive. Therefore, we remain selec- tive and focus on profitable work where added value, ser- vice innovation, collaborative working and customer service are the primary drivers.” May Gurney said Regulated


Study reveals losses


ONE IN three companies in the UK water treatment in- dustry is making a loss as eco- nomic conditions continue to take their toll, according to a new study by Plimsoll. A new study has been com- pleted that reveals how many of these 239 loss making companies have simply had an isolated bad year and how many are burying their heads in the sand.


David Pattison, author of the new report into company performance in the market, said: “More and more com- panies are making a loss for the first time in their history. Many can rightly claim to be victims of difficult trading conditions.


“A quick refocus on profit- ability would ensure this an isolated occurrence.”


Overall conditions are no excuse for a band of serial loss makers in the market. Pattison explained: “One 119 companies are making a loss for the second, even third year running and are simply selling at prices their business cannot sustain.


They have put off making the painful decision that more prudent companies made a while ago. No one wants to trim costs, lay off staff, cancel dividend payments and the like but carrying on regard- less is now unviable. They can no longer bury their heads in the sand.


“I congratulate manage- ment teams that have made the often difficult and unpop- ular decisions. Those failing to do so are running out of time and cash.”


COMING EVENTS JULY


Future Water 2012 July 10: London;


W: www.connectpa.co.uk/conferences/water12 SEPTEMBER


Infrastructure Asset Management September 25: London; Marketforce; W: www.marketforce.eu.com/conferences


OCTOBER


6th European Wastewater Management Conference October 9-10: Manchester; W: www.ewwmconference.com


Overcoming Barriers to Competition in Water October 11: London;


W: www.marketforce.eu.com/conferences


NOVEMBER Water 2012


November 5-6: London;


W: www.marketforce.eu.com/conferences WWEM 2012


November 7-8: Telford; Marcus Pattison; T: 01727 858840; E: info@wwem.uk.com; W: www.wwem.uk.com


edieWater events


Check out www.edie.net/water for details of more conferences, training courses and similar events


July 2012 | WET News | 3


1935 was a good year for progressing cavity (pc) pumps. We started the UK manufacture of pc pump technology, and since then, Mono products have set the standard around the world. We’re proud of innovative new designs like our EZstrip family - quick, simple, maintain in place systems that mean downtime can be measured in minutes. Mono Pumps ….


At the heart of British ingenuity For more information on the Mono EZstrip range, visit:


www.mono-pumps.com/en-uk/fl ow EZstripTM Transfer Pump EZstripTM Cake Pump EZstripTM TR Muncher


GO WITH THE


FLOW


Sector Services “had a strong year”, notwithstanding a small number of under-performing projects in Scotland that have been discontinued, and per- formed particularly well in the utilities M&E and repair and maintenance sectors.


Fellowes-Prynne said: “We completed our internal re- organisation,


made further


investment in our systems and addressed some operational challenges. This positions us well to concentrate on en- hancing margins on our new- ly-won services contracts.” He said the impact of the next Comprehensive Spend- ing Review (CSR) is expected to drive further outsourcing of services which are current- ly in-house.


A PROJECT to install cooling water intake systems to a new €200M data centre in Ham- ina, Finland, has been com- pleted using an innovative installation of high density polyethylene Weholite pipes. The centre is a central- ised hub for the storage and management of data, usually stored on servers. A Weholite cooling system designed by


KWH Pipe Project Services utilises the Baltic seawater, as opposed to a standard chiller plant system. The system comprises pipes and cooling water intake chambers. The installation involved welding the pipes into two strings. When complete, the profile was filled with wet concrete to provide ballast for the submersion.


Set below sea level, the


cooling system works by sucking seawater through pre-existing granite tunnels, which is pumped through the data centre and run into exchangers


that dissipate


the heat from the servers to stop overheating. On exit, it is mixed with warmer water and returned to sea to mini- mise environmental impact.


Cooling systems make waves in Finland


KEEP CALM


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