Rebranding for UK engineering practice 16 Mar 2017

Morgan Sindall Professional Services, the specialist design and engineering practice, has been relaunched as BakerHicks, a new name with a 60-year heritage that reflects its established reputation as an independent consultancy.

The BakerHicks brand acknowledges two of the original founders of the IDC Group from which MSPS emerged. Howard Hicks, theIDC Group Chairman, was a well-known developer and entrepreneur and Professor Sir John F Baker,previously Head of Cambridge University Engineering Department, was the IDC Director of Research and Development. They founded the business to provide integrated design and construction services with headquarters on the same site in Stratford-upon-Avon currently occupied by the company.

As an award-winning consultancy that has been delivering innovation in design and engineering since 1957, BakerHicks includes among its clients the UK National Grid for which it has been working to design a 22km cable tunnel as part of the North West Coast Connection. It delivers a number of disciplines ranging from initial architecture to complex civil and structural building services, programme management, temporary works designs, and CDM (construction design and management) consultancy, using the latest innovations in building information modelling (BIM) for the most efficient and cost-effective design.

“With our new name and identity, we are an endorsed brand within the Morgan Sindall Group, but with a name that allows us to return to our roots and ensures that our clients not to be distracted by other associations either real or imagined.”

In its preliminary financial results for the year ended 31 December 2016, the Morgan Sindall Group plc records an adjusted operating profit up 26% to £48.8 million (FY2015: £38.8 million) on revenues of £2,562 million, which rose 7% on the previous year (FY2015: £2,385 million). Adjusted earnings per share were up 34% on last year at 84.7p (FY2015: 63.0p) with the dividend for the year at 35.0p, a 21% increase from the 2015 29.0p per share. The Group’s order book was also up 29% to £3.6 billion.

 “These results demonstrate the considerable strategic and operational progress made in the Group over the last few years and the underlying quality of the business,” said Chief Executive, John Morgan. “There is a clear need for the UK Government to deliver urban regeneration and infrastructure investment to support future economic growth and the Morgan Sindall Group has strong established positions in these markets, with a balance sheet and cash position to fund further investment and growth.”