Cordia's £3.2m profit readies it for private sector growth

05 November 2012 by
Cordia's £3.2m profit readies it for private sector growth

Scottish catering and facilities management firm Cordia has posted a profit of £3.2m and announced aims to extend its reach in the private sector.

The company, set up by Glasgow City Council as its largest arm's-length external organisation to run its frontline services, made the 15% growth in profit on a turnover of £142.3m.

Now entering its fourth year of operation, Cordia has primarily worked in the public sector, with Glasgow City Council its principal customer. But its strong performance in the past year has led the company to reveal plans to snag a bigger slice of the private sector pie.

Cordia finance director Andy Clark (pictured) said: "I'm delighted to report that Cordia has produced another set of excellent financial results, outperforming on our business plan, which allowed us to return £2.3m to the public purse.

"While the largest proportion of our work will always be from the public sector, it is part of our business plan to extend our reach into the private sector - and that now accounts for 14% of our turnover, much of that in contract catering via our subsidiary, Encore Hospitality Services. Because of the opening of new venues, we are seeing growth there."

The group, which employs more than 7,000 full- and part-time staff, brought in contracts worth a total of £3.5m during the past 12 months and is set to meet its target of £5m in its current financial year.

Clark said that he was pleased with the performance, given the ongoing cutbacks in the public sector. The profit meant that the company comfortably covered its £2.3m payment to Glasgow City Council, which will rise to £3.3m during the current financial year.

Cordia runs the catering operation in Glasgow's primary and secondary schools, while Encore provides catering at Glasgow Caledonian University and the Glasgow Warriors' newly-opened Scotstoun rugby stadium, a contract expected to be worth about £400,000 a year.

Catering is also being provided at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and the National Indoor Sports Arena, the East End complex which is now collectively known as the Emirates Arena.

In April, Encore retained the catering contract at the city's Tall Ship tourist attraction in a deal worth £1.5m over five years. The division also oversees catering at most of the city's other top tourist attractions, including Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the Riverside Museum.

By Janie Manzoori-Stamford

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