Wates is finally seeing the benefits of its acquisition of SES Engineering Services eight years after it bought the then loss-making M&E contractor from Shepherd Group

Latest published results for SES (Engineering Services) show the firm delivered record results last year after a significant restructure of the business under new managing director Rob Clifford.

Despite challenging market conditions, revenue soared 73% to £299m, generating a near doubling in pre-tax profit to £5.8m in the year to December 2023.

The big improvement in performance comes after the business aligned with the regional structure that already existed in
the Construction division of Wates, and created a new division for integrated specialist services, incorporating the offsite facility Prism.

SES’ four distinct operations are: North; South; Major Projects; and Specialist Services.

The firm’s order book was stable at £721m with headcount at the business up 8% to 960 staff and cash at bank improving to £11m.