Billington cuts 2026 profit outlook to £4.0–5.5 million
Key Facts
In a trading update issued on 6 November, Billington Holdings cut its forecast for underlying profit before tax in the 2026 financial year to a range of £4.0 million to £5.5 million. The company said it now expects to deliver that profit in the year ending 31 December 2026. The revised outlook is below the market’s previous expectation, with analyst consensus at £8.3 million for the same year. The new range is therefore 34% to 52% below consensus, according to the company’s statement. The update puts challenges linked to specific contracts at the centre of its explanation for the lower forecast.
The lower end of the new range is £4.0 million and the upper end is £5.5 million, compared with market consensus of £8.3 million for underlying profit before tax in 2026. The entire range is also below the underlying profit before tax of £4.1 million reported by the company in 2025, according to the comparison in the update. This means the company expects a result for the current financial year close to or above last year’s level, but well below the market’s previous estimates. The company did not give separate forecasts for either end of the range or a quarterly profit trajectory. The reported figure remains an estimate for the full financial year, not a final result.
The company attributed the cut in part to a significant decline in the expected margin on an industrial contract, reducing the anticipated profit from the project. The update did not state the size of the margin reduction or its financial value, but described its impact as significant. This is compounded by a customer-related delay on a bridge contract being carried out by the Tubecon division. Billington said the contract is now expected to contribute to results during 2027, after its contribution had been included in forecasts for an earlier period. The shift defers the contract’s contribution to the following year, alongside the effect of pressure on the industrial contract margin in the 2026 estimates.
Results for the first half of 2026 showed growth in revenue and profit before tax compared with the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 29.1% to £53.95 million in the six months ended 30 June, from £41.78 million in the first half of 2025. Profit before tax increased 70.1% to £2.84 million, from £1.67 million a year earlier. In the structural steel construction division, revenue rose 31.6% to £47.76 million from £36.30 million. The company linked first-half profit growth to its focus on larger, more complex projects, as well as operational efficiency and expanded capacity.
Against the backdrop of the update, Billington said it had secured contracts worth about £120 million during 2026 and that its order book had reached a record level, with visibility extending into 2027–28. On 17 September, the company announced two new data centre project contracts with two new customers, with an expected combined value of about £42 million. It said the first project represents the initial phase of a larger development, with work due to start in the fourth quarter of 2026 and deliveries concentrated in the first half of 2027. The second project was scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2027 and continue through 2028. Chief Executive Mark Smith said when the contracts were announced that they strengthened the record order book and provided visibility for work during 2027 and into 2028.
For the revised outlook, management said the finalisation of certain items at the year-end could push results towards the upper end of the range, or £5.5 million. This means the profit estimate remains dependent on the determination of those final items, according to the company’s statement. The possibility does not change the announced forecast range or its gap with market consensus. Billington had set 29 September 2026 as the date for publishing its interim results for the six months ended 30 June. The 6 November update concerns the financial year ending 31 December 2026, while the company deferred the bridge contract’s contribution to 2027.