Focus on core strengths sees Facilicom UK profits grow

Growth and turnover up at soft service and contract cleaning providers

Facilicom Cleaning Services has reported a growth of 17 per cent on the previous year. This takes its turnover of £37.5 million – almost doubling its net profit in both percentage and monetary terms. Its commercial department has achieved record results and the resulting growth was supported by a number of contracts won in the second half of 2015, being operational throughout the year.

With clients expecting operational excellence at a competitive price, Facilicom believes it has the systems to accurately measure its results which, combined with highly skilled and well trained management, leads to continuous improvement in productivity levels and high service standards.

Jan-Hein Hemke, Facilicom UK Managing Director, said, “It is our belief that customers consider a clean building as a given, and rightly so. Therefore, we need to distinguish ourselves from our competition through our service delivery. At Facilicom we develop a unique solution for each of our clients by gaining a thorough understanding of their requirements, needs, and wants.”

The development of the National Living Wage (NLW) had a significant influence on the cleaning industry; in the period from October 2015 to April 2016 the NLW went up by 10.7%. However, Facilicom remains a strong supporter and part of the leadership group of the Living Wage Foundation. Jan-Hein said, “We believe the trend in wage rates is desirable from a social point of view and our results show that it does not have to be detrimental to business success. The outlook for the coming years is that there will be considerable further increases in the pay rates. As a Living Wage Service Provider we are less affected than some companies as many of our staff members are already paid the Living Wage.”

Facilicom expects the wage rises to increase the pace of technology development and other innovations in service delivery in the cleaning industry alongside an increasingly skilled workforce.

Although the economic environment is still uncertain following the Brexit vote, Facilicom has yet to see a direct effect. Client relocation and the availability of lower skilled workers need to be monitored, but it does not expect this to impact the results of the forthcoming financial year.