The Banks Group has made strong progress in its return to pre-pandemic levels after seeing revenues almost double in a year.
The Durham based renewable energy, property development and mining firm has reported consolidated annual figures for the first time since the closure of its coal mining operations, posting a combined operating profit of £36m across all its businesses for the financial year ending September 30 2022, up from £18m the previous year.
The Banks Group’s 2022 results are the company’s first that do not include any trading activities from coal mining, with production at its last coal mine having ceased in 2020. Overall consolidated group sales for the year rose by around two-thirds, up to £112m from £67m in the previous period – figures which are on a par with pre-pandemic sales levels of £109m which the family firm reported for the financial year ended September 2019.
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Simon Fisher, group finance director at The Banks Group, said: “In line with our expectations, the performance of our business in 2022 was much stronger than the previous year, with all parts showing impressive growth compared to 2021. The board believes that the group is in an excellent position to maximise the opportunities available from the markets in which we operate and to achieve continuing profitable growth.”
The figures comes as Banks Group Holdings Limited posted a turnover rise from £19.25m for the 53 weeks ended October 3 2021, to £51.1m for the period ended September 30 2022, during which operating profit also soared from £333,000 to £5.5m.
Since the end of its last financial year, the business has launched a dedicated regional housebuilding company, Banks Homes, which will see it building its own houses for the first time on sites across the North East and Yorkshire. Banks Homes operates independently from, but alongside, the company’s existing property development arm, Banks Property, and is looking to acquire sites from other developers as well as seek out its own market opportunities. Banks Property is continuing to work with UK housebuilders, while work on Banks Homes’ first two projects, at Mount Oswald in Durham City and West Rainton in County Durham, is set to start later in the year.
Mr Fisher warned of planning delays hampering developments, however.
He said: “Despite the welcome growth in revenues for our property business and the significant positive impact that we expect to see from Banks Homes in the coming years, it remains clear that current planning delays are holding back developments across the UK leading to shortages in land available for much-needed new homes.
“With our extensive experience in the property development sector, it was a logical step for us to start to build new, high-quality and sustainable homes ourselves by establishing our Banks Homes business, which will contribute directly to meeting the pressing need to improve and increase the housing supply across the North East and Yorkshire.”
Banks Property’s year-on-year sales of land increased significantly from £3.7m in 2021 to £25.6m in 2022, with key projects in Durham City, Barnard Castle and Stockton-on-Tees being delivered.
Banks Renewables recently completed the construction of its 100th wind turbine, as part of the development of its Kype Extension wind farm in South Lanarkshire, and it has significantly increased its pipeline of onshore wind farms under development, with a potential additional capacity of over 400MW across four further sites in Scotland. The group said Banks Renewables is also continuing to bring forward a range of flexible energy technologies, including solar energy, battery storage and flexible power generation.
Turnover from the firm’s minerals division more than doubled from £6.4m to £13.1m, with operations focussing on its role as principal contractor at the Bantycock gypsum mine in Nottinghamshire on behalf of owners Saint Gobain Formula. During the year Banks Group has also continued to support community groups and environmental projects by awarding more than 140 community grants totalling over £664,000.
