Strong growth across all regions sees turnover and net revenue up 25% and 22% respectively at Turner & Townsend.
Turner & Townsend has published its annual review for 2023-2024, reporting double-digit growth across all its three core segments – real estate, infrastructure and energy and natural resources.
The global professional services company’s growth reflects overall market expansion in these areas and the call for expertise in complex programmes. This spans the rising real estate demand to embed AI and tech advancements, investment in the clean energy transition and its supporting infrastructure to address climate change, as well as in further improvements to global connectivity and mobility through transport development.
Turner & Townsend’s overall turnover and net revenue for the 12 months to 30 April 2024 have risen to £1.5bn ($1.9bn) and £1.3bn ($1.6bn) – increases of 25% and 22% respectively – while global EBITA, showing core profitability, grew by 21% to £192m ($242m).
The results follow the announcement in July that CBRE’s global project management arm plans to combine with Turner & Townsend to create an expanded programme, project and cost management offer which will have over 20,000 employees in over 60 countries. The deal builds on the success of the strategic partnership established with CBRE in 2021 and is expected to complete around calendar year-end.
Real estate remains the largest area of Turner & Townsend’s business operations globally. This segment grew by 25% over the past year to £851m ($1,070m), fuelled by demand in specialist markets including data centre development and demand for tall buildings such as London’s 50-storey 8 Bishopsgate, which completed in summer 2023. As global regions reshore and strengthen their industrial capacity, there has been an increase in advanced manufacturing and life sciences investment, including the Project Banksia flu vaccine production facility in Victoria, Australia and a number of multi-billion-pound battery programmes underway across the world.
Infrastructure work at Turner & Townsend has grown by 13% to £350m ($440m), with notable expansion in aviation mass transit and defence. Nations around the world with increasing populations are pushing to improve regional connectivity, public transport provision and overall capacity in air travel, with the company this year supporting the delivery of Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi, Manchester Airport in the UK and Toronto Pearson Airport in Canada.
A global push to meet net zero targets and strengthen energy security has continued to drive strong investment in renewable energy, helping Turner & Townsend’s energy and natural resources work grow by 24% to £95m ($120m). This included major energy transmission improvement projects with TenneT across Asia and Europe.
The year saw increased activity across all global regions, with the most significant growth in the Americas and Europe where net revenue increased by 31% and 30%. UK revenue grew by 20%, with the rises across Asia, the Middle East and Australia and New Zealand also in double figures. Overall headcount for the global business rose by 15% in the year, to more than 12,300.
Organic growth has been supported by Turner & Townsend’s strategic acquisitions and partnerships across the UK, Europe and North America. This includes the first full trading year with public sector project and programme management specialists, Heery, the announcement of the strategic partnership with offshore wind procurement and contract management experts, JUMBO Consulting Group and the acquisition of boutique operating model modernisation specialists, ON THE MARK (OTM).
Vincent Clancy, Chairman and CEO at Turner & Townsend, said: “In the face of an ever more complex and connected world, success in our industry will be built on businesses’ ability to evolve and reinvent themselves to deliver impactful solutions for clients. These excellent figures demonstrate our ability to build strong client partnerships while investing in our people and our global capacity. Our scale and reach make us more resilient to market volatility and, crucially, ensure that we are best placed to anticipate and adapt to clients’ priorities and needs, offering solutions to their challenges wherever they are in the world.
“We’ve created an unrivalled programme, project and cost management capability globally, and our recent acquisitions, as well as the plan to combine CBRE’s project management with Turner & Townsend, only enhances the specialist skills and creative solutions our business can offer. Going forward we will have more strength than ever before to make a positive impact for the future – investing in our proposition, technology platforms and talent that our clients around the world can trust and rely on.”
Click here to view Turner & Townsend’s full company results for 2023-24.
