The bridge, rail and civil engineering specialist said the one-off impact of losses on its backing of the Cleveland Street Energy Works power plant had not hampered future growth prospects
A failed investment in a green energy project on its home turf has not deterred bosses at Hull’s Spencer Engineering Group, despite it causing pre-tax losses. The world renowned firm took a £5.1m hit on the sale of the troubled Energy Works power plant at Cleveland Street, its latest accounts show.
But founder and CEO Charlie Spencer says the 36-year-old business is well placed to grow further, pointing to strong underlying performance and a boost to its order book and turnover. Accounts covering the year to the end of March at Spencer Group show it swung to a pre-tax loss of £4.3m but operating profits before exceptional items grew from £979,000 to £1.38m.
The One Humber Quays-based group, which employs more than 300 people, saw turnover grow to £70m, an increase of 15%, thanks to its success in securing and delivering high-value, multi-disciplinary engineering projects. Hull-based experts have been involved a range of high profile projects including rebuilding of the Union Chain Bridge in the Scottish Borders – the world’s oldest suspension bridge still carrying traffic, as well as renovation of the Menai Suspension Bridge in Wales and more recently a part played in the £1bn building of the Pattullo Bridge in Canada.
Spencer Group’s accounts tell of the £5.1m impairment relating to loans it provided to the parent company behind the £200m waste to power Energy Works plant in Cleveland Street which has suffered a number of setbacks that led to under usage and mothballing. Earlier this year, the site was sold to construction materials business Ashcourt Group, which is reported to be planning to get it back up and running next year.
The deal has substantially reduced the value of Spencer Group’s minority investment in the scheme but bosses said the one-off impairment had no cash impact as revenues were not expected for a number of years.
Charlie Spencer OBE, founder and executive chairman of Spencer Group, said: “These results highlight the continued strength and resilience of our business. While the impairment charge related to a historic investment has impacted our statutory profit, it is a non-recurring accounting adjustment with no cash consequence. Our operations remain robustly profitable, cash generative and well-positioned for sustained growth.
“We’re pleased to have increased turnover by 15%, strengthened our cash position, and boosted our secured order book. This success reflects the dedication and talent of our people, the trust of our clients, and our long-term commitment to delivering engineering excellence across critical infrastructure sectors.”
Entering its 2025-26 financial year, Spencer Group – which was a runner-up in the Large Business of the Year category at the recent Hull and East Yorkshire Business Awards – had secured work in hand of £83m and a pipeline of future opportunities of around £300m.
Spencer Group specialises in the design and build of multi-disciplinary engineering projects, and works across the UK’s rail network, maintaining suspension and multi-span bridges, providing materials handling and bulk storage solutions, and delivering challenging construction schemes. Its specialist bridge division has carried out work on some of the UK’s most prominent crossings including the Humber, Forth and Severn Bridges.