LONDON (ShareCast) - UK building services contractor TClarke reported a 75 per cent drop in annual pre-tax profits on Tuesday, reflecting market challenges and property disposal.

Profit before tax for the year ended December 31st, 2012, came to £1.2m, down from £4.9m the previous year which benefited from a £2.2m property disposal.

The firm said underlying operating profit fell to £2.9m from £4.7m, blaming margin pressures in the market. Underlying operating profit margin dropped to 1.5% from 2.6%.

However, turnover increased 5.5% to £193.8m, compared to £183.8m in 2011, as the group secured new contracts with the likes of JP Morgan, IMG Media, ITV Studios and Arcadia. The order book grew to £230m from £190m.

"TClarke and our people delivered a solid, profitable performance despite all the challenges of the construction sector," said Chief Executive Officer Mark Lawrence.

"We have an excellent forward order book with good visibility to a number of fully committed high quality opportunities particularly in the London commercial market."

The company improved its net cash position to £5.6m at year-end, up from £0.6m a year earlier.

TClarke proposed a final dividend of 2.0p per share, in line with the last year.

Looking ahead, the group expects to experience fierce competition for available workload and continuing margin pressure in 2013.

Shares declined 1.52% to 54.90p at 08:24 Tuesday.

RD

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