What happened

William Hare, the UK's second biggest structural steelwork contractor, grew pre-tax profit by 27% to £40m in 2025 even as turnover fell by a fifth to £338m, Construction Enquirer and Construction News reported this week. Group operating margin strengthened to 11.5%, up from 7% the year before. Average staff numbers rose to 2,350 and the group held £57m in cash. The results cover the period of Manchester entrepreneur Simon Orange's June 2025 takeover of the Bury based firm, with chief executive Susan Hodgkiss staying on and the Hare family retaining a significant shareholding.

Hodgkiss said the spread of the group's UK and overseas work had helped it weather a tougher domestic market, but warned that economic and political uncertainty was clouding project start dates, with more challenging conditions expected into 2027.

Why it matters

A steelwork contractor growing margin while revenue falls a fifth is choosing fewer, better priced jobs over volume, and it is being rewarded for it. That is a markedly different story to rival Severfield, which posted a £40m loss this year as it reset strategy after overreaching on contract risk. The split between the two largest players in UK structural steel says something about where the sector's discipline currently sits: firms with the balance sheet and order book to walk away from thin margin work are doing better than those chasing turnover.

It also points to where the work actually is. William Hare's international spread, rather than its UK order book alone, is what carried the numbers, which fits a pattern seen elsewhere this year of UK steelwork demand concentrating in data centres, logistics and a handful of big-ticket infrastructure jobs rather than being spread evenly across the commercial market.

What it means for careers

For structural engineers and steelwork project managers, William Hare's performance is a signal to look at who is winning the fewer, bigger jobs rather than who has the most live sites. A contractor holding margin at 11.5% while shrinking its top line is one that can afford to pay for the estimating and commercial talent needed to price risk properly, and that is usually where the better roles sit in a downturn, in commercial and pre-construction teams rather than on-site delivery.

Hodgkiss's warning about project start dates clouding the outlook is also worth taking seriously if you are weighing a move. Steelwork sits early in a programme, so a contractor's forward order book is a leading indicator for the wider frame and envelope trades that follow it onto site. Candidates targeting structural steel, cladding or facade roles over the next year should be asking prospective employers directly about confirmed start dates on live contracts, not just order book value, given how explicitly Hodgkiss flagged that gap between contracted work and work that is actually mobilising.