Roofing Today is delighted to present the Top 40 UK Roofing Contractors for 2024. The list provides a snapshot of companies’ scale of activity, ranking by turnover and comparing performance to the previous year. Data is taken from published accounts or provided directly by businesses.

The following data was first published in the July 2024 edition of Roofing Today magazine.

Read commentary from Roofing Today Editor, Dr Claire Griffiths, below.

Roofing Today Top 40 Roofing Contractors 2024

COMMENTARY

IN TOPMOST POSITION of Roofing Today’s Top 40, congratulations go once again to CA Group, which ranks number one for a second year. The building envelope specialist is punching where it matters with a spectacular 62% growth in pre-tax profit to a whopping £11 million while maintaining steady volume growth of 9%.

New for this year’s list is our inclusion of reported total carbon emissions. Whilst it is notoriously difficult to make precise comparisons, we feel it is important to begin to reflect this key metric. Our top ranker leads the way here too, with almost 100% of waste recycled and a sustained focus on reducing emissions.

Overall, the 2024 Roofing Today Top 40 companies achieved a total turnover of £1.36 billion – accounting for around 22% of the £6.1 billion activity of the UK roofing and cladding sector. Average sales for our Top 40 are up 10% on last year’s Top 40, comfortably exceeding the period’s inflation rate of 7.3%. Most businesses saw a growth in turnover (30 out of our 40) with an average increase of 20% on the previous year’s.

Standing out this year, are two sector stalwarts. Ayrshire-headquartered Hugh LS McConnell has moved up the rankings from 22^nd last year to its present 12^th position. Securing some significant long-term contracts, the business reports a continuing strong order book and increasing customer base. With both turnover and pre-tax profit increases, this is one to watch.

A & E Elkins is another rising star, which by its own admission reached a turnover that totalled almost double its target for the year.

In terms of overall pre-tax profits, these amounted to almost £82 million, up on last year’s by a very healthy 15%. Worth a mention here is UK Waterproofing Solutions, achieving a huge boost in pre-tax profits and with a 10% profit margin. The company identifies benefitting from the materials market fluctuations during its reporting year.

Out of all the Top 40 only 3 companies made a pre-tax loss, compared to last year’s 5. Nevertheless, there were 9 businesses with shrinking pre-tax profits, slightly up on last year’s 7.

Average Profit Margin Remains Steady

Average profit margin amongst our Top 40 has remained steady at 5.45% up only slightly on last year’s average of 5.25%, and with a median figure of 10%. As product availability and price volatility has settled, we expect this picture will improve to match the forecasted 11.6% for 2023-2024.

Overall, the number of employees has fallen in our Top 40 this year to 3,257 a 5.5% decrease on the previous year. While the difficulties of hiring skilled operative in the sector may account for some of this, many companies have chosen to increase subcontractor use, allowing them to more fluidly respond to market conditions.

Promise of Change

At the same time as the 2024 Top 40 is published, the UK has a new government. It’s likely this will mean a reinstatement of the housebuilding targets and our sector is gearing up to deliver this along with a busier overall market. With the promise of change and greater opportunity before us, it is with optimism that I look forward to reporting on the coming year in 2025’s Top 40 Roofing Contractors.

>> Read 2025’s Top 40 Roofing Contractors here