From today i-FM will carry continually updated listings of the major facilities management companies operating in the UK – the only online industry rankings available. The 27 companies currently listed, with a combined turnover exceeding £3.3bn, can be sorted by turnover, profit and number of employees. The listings will be expanded and refined as additional information is gathered. As well as financial performance, each entry includes details of ownership, services and representative clients.

Only one company is in the top five on all three rankings. Serco tops the Turnover and Profit tables and is number two on the Number of Employees listing. Jarvis Facilities Management is at number two on the Turnover listing and three on the Profits ranking. Building & Property is also a strong performer – with turnover of £208m, just a quarter of Serco’s, it takes second place in the Profit ranking with £27.5m, just behind Serco’s £31m. Rapidly expanding ISS UK comes in at number three on Turnover and one place lower in the Profit ranking

At 13%, B&P’s profit margin, along with Servus’ 12%, is outside the normal range of between 3% and 9%. WSP FM achieves a massive 46% profit margin, explained by the fact that its ‘turnover’ is actually management fee income.

The financial performance of FM companies is notoriously difficult to assess. Apart from differing definitions of facilities management, several companies operate as subsidiaries of larger, quoted companies and do not report separately. The turnover of some companies is inflated by so-called ‘pass-through’ expenditure – goods and services procured on behalf of clients.

Johnson Controls makes the top five on turnover but does not disclose profit. Trillium is unique in having just one client, albeit a big one. The DSS Prime contract is enough to put it in 6th place on both Turnover and Profit tables.

MITIE Managed Services, the FM arm of MITIE launched in 1997, turns a ninth place turnover of £136m into fifth place on the Profit ranking with earnings of £8.8m – a margin of almost 6.5%.

i-FM hopes the new rankings will generate debate and has set up a special area on its Discussion Forum for contributions.

Richard Byatt