Liverpool city region road repairs and civil engineering firm Dowhigh is reporting pre-tax profits of more than £1m – more than double the previous year. Tony McDonough reports

Road repairs and civil engineering firm Dowhigh is reporting big rises in revenues and profits in its latest annual results.

Bootle-based Dowhigh has filed its accounts for the 12 months to May 31, 2023. They show a 21% rise in revenues to almost £14.8m and a big rise in pre-tax profits from £445,279 in the previous year to just over £1m.

A family business founded in 1975, Dowhigh works with local authorities and private clients across the North West. Its services include road surfacing, civil engineering, drainage, earthworks and constructing footpaths and cycleways.

During the past couple of years, the company has won a significant volume of work from Liverpool City Council. In September 2022 it was one of three firms to share work on more than 100 road upgrade schemes in the city with a total value of £35m.

And in November 2023 Dowhigh was again one of three firms to share £11m worth of contracts with the city council to upgrade 29 roads across the city.

Dowhigh, which employs 59 people, is run by three directors, Michael Murray, Trevor Murray and Brian Morrey. Michael and Trevor Murray are the shareholders of the business.

In the annual report Trevor Murray writes: “In 2022/23 higher demand and industry-wide inflationary increases gave rise to an increase in turnover and profits compared with the previous year.

“And the directors were again satisfied with the trading result. Once again, a substantial investment was made in plant and vehicles.”

He added: “The highway repair industry continues to be affected by price pressures, both from local authorities and from suppliers of materials and services.

“Despite these factors, in the first six months of 2022/23, the company has been able to maintain a satisfactory level of activity and directors are confident about the remainder of the year and beyond.”

According to the accounts Dowhigh directors were paid a total remuneration of £229,785 for the year, including pension payments. Shareholders shared dividends of £80,000.