PM GROUP REPORTS STRONG OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FOR 2023

Resilient performance, particularly in Ireland, in the Group’s 50th year in business

Highlights

FY2023:

Overall revenue €566m (FY22 €612m)
Operating profit €33.9m (€43.9m)
Net assets €164m (€158m)
Employee numbers at 3,527, of whom 1363 are shareholders, a 15% increase on FY22

Investment

Acquisition of Milestone Solutions in June 2023
5th USA office announcement in North Carolina
110 graduate recruits, 45% of whom are female

PM Group, the Irish headquartered, international project delivery company, has today announced its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2023 and an update on trading for 2024.

PM Group achieved operating profit of €33.9 million in 2023. PM Group reported overall revenue, which includes pass-through revenue, of €566 million in 2023.

Pass-through revenue is where the Group carries equipment and contract costs on behalf of clients. Underlying professional services fee revenue was in line with 2022.

The €33.9 million operating profit was achieved with significant strategic investment in international expansion and acquisition against a backdrop of increased costs and the impact of inflation.

Net assets increased to €164 million which, combined with minimal debt, underpins the Group’s capacity to support further investment and drive growth.

PM Group’s total workforce across Europe, North America and Asia is currently at 3,527 people, 1,363 of whom are employee shareholders in the business.

2023 represented the third year of PM Group’s 2025 Strategy, Delivering Our Future Together, which is focused on continued growth in core markets as well as geographical and sectoral expansion. In 2023, 44% of PM Group’s activity was international, with 56% of overall activity undertaken for multi-national clients in Ireland.

A key part of the strategy is to expand the range of integrated services PM Group can offer its clients. In this regard, the Company acquired automation firm, Milestone Solutions. Milestone specialises in providing automation engineers for clients to support the running and optimisation of production and maintenance systems.

The Company recently announced the appointment of three new members to its Board of Directors. John Hampson has joined as Chief Digital & Transformation Officer; David Kennedy has been promoted to Chief Risk Officer and Anne Böcker has been appointed as non-executive director and Chairperson of the Audit Committee.

Anthony O’Rourke, CEO of PM Group, commented on the publication of its financial results:

“I’m pleased to report that we delivered a resilient performance in 2023 despite significant economic and geo-political challenges in a number of our markets coinciding with the conclusion of key projects. The operational and financial performance of our business is testament to the fantastic efforts of our people right across the organisation.

“Our largest market, Ireland, performed strongly with robust multinational investments continuing into 2024, signalling a positive outlook for Irish FDI.

In Europe, Benelux saw strong growth on the back of sustained investments by our key clients. Our services in Germany expanded with the move to a new office in Frankfurt, whereas the Swiss market contracted in 2023. Poland also experienced difficulties with the effects of the Ukraine war and high inflation, leading to reduced investment. This was substantially offset, as our Poland operation redeployed its capacity to support our Irish offices. The UK continued to feel Brexit’s impact, with continuing reduction in international investment in new, large-scale projects.

”2023 saw an upturn in large scale capital projects in the USA, particularly on the East Coast. We increased investment in the region expanding our Philadelphia office and opening our 5th USA office in North Carolina. The Research Triangle Region, North Carolina is a major hub for life sciences research, innovation and technology.

“In Asia, we delivered a number of large scale, high-profile projects across life sciences and food and beverage. We continue to develop our design capabilities in India, which is of great benefit to international projects across our markets.

“PM Group provides employees with the opportunity to work on leading-edge projects for many of the world’s best-known companies, while also having the opportunity to become a shareholder in the company. We are unique amongst our peer companies, with over 1,363 employee shareholders benefiting from the success of our business. We look forward to adding more talented people to our team in 2024.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome John Hampson, David Kennedy, and Anne Böcker to the Board of PM Group. I extend my best wishes to them as they embark on their new roles. I have no doubt their collective expertise, leadership and vision will be of huge benefit to help guide PM Group into the future.”

PM Group is committed to the Science Based Target (SBTi) of Net Zero. The Company supports clients to accelerate decarbonisation and ensure new facilities meet sustainability targets. In 2023 a number of new projects achieved the highest levels of Green Building standards including, LEED Gold and Platinum certification.

Chairperson, Brendan Jennings, said:

“Everyone working with PM Group across the world deserves great credit for our 2023 performance. In particular, we are proud of our continued commitment to health, safety and wellbeing excellence.

“2023 marks the third year of the Delivering Our Future Together strategy and in financial terms, we are already ahead of the strategic plan at this stage. A key component of that strategy is ESG. We have been implementing ambitious plans to reduce our environmental impact and the impact of our clients, through the capital projects we design and deliver.

“We were pleased to welcome Anthony O’Rourke as Chief Executive Officer in December 2023. We are confident that his leadership will drive PM Group to new heights. We also extend our deepest gratitude to Dave Murphy for his years of dedicated service and invaluable contribution.

“Finally, we were delighted to see the recruitment of a large number of graduates in 2023. 45% of whom were female, which we see growing further in the years to come.”

Review of 2023 Operations

In its 50th year, PM Group’s Irish operation accounted for 56% of the business and continued to expand to support project delivery in the United States and Europe. Investment by our clients remained strong in most regions although there were challenges in some locations.

Key highlight projects in Ireland include development of a flagship chemical API facility for AstraZeneca, winning a Fill Finish project for BMS at their Cruiserath facility in Dublin and the design of a new distillery for Irish Distillers in Midleton, Cork. Other major projects completed include, J&J BioCork3; MSD BioNX Dublin and Meta in Denmark.

The UK market continued to be impacted by Brexit and political uncertainty resulting in limited investment by multi-national clients. Notwithstanding these challenges, PM Group’s UK team successfully supported the delivery of projects for Pfizer and J&J in Belgium and for Thermo Fisher in the UK.

PM Group has continued to secure and deliver significant contracts across mainland Europe. 2023 saw strong growth in Benelux with key clients while we grew our service offering in the German market with the expansion of a new office in Frankfurt.

2023 was a challenging year for our Polish operations with the ongoing effects of the war in Ukraine and high inflation causing a slowdown. This local slowdown was offset by our Polish operations supporting the rest of the Group.

In the USA, PM Group continues to grow its capability to deliver large scale projects. Particular achievements included the growth of PM Group’s Philadelphia office and the opening of a new office in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

2023 was another successful year in Asia despite both the macro-economic and geopolitical challenges. The China operation led a number of strategic projects for international clients such as J&J, Sanofi, Diageo and Lamb Weston. Singapore had a solid year underpinned by an expansion of Outsourced Technical Services (OTS) and Managed Services. Our Indian operation grew by over 25% as it grows in capability to support the Group.

Outlook 2024:

The Group began 2024 with a reasonably strong backlog of projects across most sectors, services and business units. Group performance in the first quarter to March 2024 has been satisfactory overall, despite a number of business units facing local market challenges in particular the cancellation of a design and construction project in Europe.

2024 will see a continued focus and investment spend to support our strategic growth targets as we build on the significant progress achieved to date.

The overall trading outlook for 2024 reflects market sentiment, which is strong in Ireland and remains cautious in some regions. In general, the 2024 outlook is that the business will remain steady overall supported by a strong pipeline in our major markets.

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Michael McDonnell Managing Editor of Irish Construction Industry Magazine & Plan Magazine

Email: michael@irishconstruction.com      WWW.MCDMEDIA.IE