Jones Bros posts £241m revenue as energy and water work surge

Jones Bros has broken through the £200m turnover barrier, posting £241m revenue for the year to March 2026 as reservoir and renewable energy work powered a record year.

The family-owned contractor, based in North Wales, grew revenue 53% year on year, with pre-tax profit climbing at a similar rate to £11m. Chairman Huw Jones warned that recruiting skilled workers remained one of the industry's biggest challenges as the firm expanded.

Surging workloads pushed average headcount from 498 to 545. More than 60 apprentices and trainees have joined over the past three years. Jones Bros almost doubled its investment in plant to £20m, backing a strategy of delivering work with its own workforce and heavy equipment. Cash balances climbed to £42m from £30m.

What did the chairman say?

Jones said: "Exceeding £240m turnover is a significant milestone for the group and reflects the hard work, expertise, and commitment of our employees."

He added: "However, our success isn't measured solely by financial performance. It's also about the opportunities we create for people, the skills we develop, and our ability to continue delivering major infrastructure projects."

He continued: "Investing in our workforce, plant, and machinery has always been central to our approach, and this will remain the case as we look to the future."

How did the civil engineering division perform?

The main civil engineering business grew turnover 55% to £233m while holding its operating margin at 4%. Growth came from a portfolio spanning water infrastructure, onshore wind and battery storage.

Major workloads included:

• Ground improvement and foundation works at Havant Thicket Reservoir in Hampshire, delivered in joint venture with Sussex civils firm Mackley
• Completion of the 49-turbine North Kyle wind farm in Scotland, alongside progressing Windy Standard III and the 44-turbine Sanquhar II scheme
• Delivery of the 230MW Uskmouth battery storage scheme
• More than 500,000 cubic metres of earthworks at Thorpe Marsh, on a former coal-fired power station site
• A 50,000 sq m development platform for the converter station serving the NeuConnect electricity link between Britain and Germany

What does the result signal for contractors?

The numbers show a mid-sized regional contractor scaling fast on energy transition and water infrastructure without sacrificing margin, holding 4% operating profit on a substantially larger revenue base.

For practitioners, the more telling figures sit in the balance sheet and the plant line: £20m of equipment investment and £42m of cash indicate a firm financing expansion from its own resources rather than stretching working capital.

The constraint is labour. Jones's warning on skilled workers, set against 545 staff and a three-year apprentice intake of more than 60, signals that training pipelines, not order books, will cap how fast firms of this size can convert the UK's renewables and water workload into delivered projects.