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Top UK architects RMJM poised for soaring profits

British architecture firm RMJM today revealed it is expecting profits to soar for the financial year ending April 2008 – despite the credit crunch.

RMJM head Peter Morrison made the forecast after the firm picked up the Architects' Journal 'Business Initiative of the Year' Award this week.

He said the firm is forecasting turnover to April 2008 up from £47m to £100m, and a doubling of profits to around the £8m.

"There's been a lot of talk about the credit crunch, but I don't think we have ever seen a development boom like the one now happening in the global market place. The pundits are saying the same number of buildings we have in the world today will actually be built in the next 25 years," Mr Morrison, 34, said.

RMJM won the award for its impressive financial performance and its merger with US architectural firm Hillier.

The company, which has recently been winning some of the world’s most high profile and ambitious projects, currently has £8 billion worth of construction projects on its drawing boards.

The projects include the Beijing Olympics Media Centre, the Okhta Centre for Gazrprom (which will be the tallest tower in Europe), Kolkata Airport in India, and the China Merchants Bank and Dubai Tower in Jeddah.

The company's turnaround with Peter Morrison at the helm has been impressive.

RMJM recovered from a loss in 2005 to a before-tax profit of just over £4 million in the year 2007.

In that year, margins increased from 8.2% to 9.7%. RMJM's acquisition of US firm Hillier in June 2007 transformed it into a global company. The award judges said: "RMJM has moved forward from a difficult situation with enormous confidence and impressive strategy."

Mr Morrison said the credit crunch was actually turning out to be a positive.

“The credit crunch applies pressure on governments to maintain economic growth through public sector projects so there's plenty of work out there. We're in a strong position as a significant proportion of our current worldwide revenues are from public spending - mostly in the educational, healthcare and transport sectors.

It’s one of the great advantages of being a global company – we can spread work around. We are not solely pegged to the economic conditions in one country – if the UK and the US are down, there’s the booming Asian market.

“In investment terms, it’s akin to having a well balanced portfolio on a global scale. This global repositioning as such is, in effect, what RMJM has done since 2005. I am delighted to be seeing the fantastic returns from adopting this strategy,” he said.

Email: d.hutchison@rmjm.com