Balfour Beatty takes Carillion hit as profits more than double

Construction giant Balfour Beatty has reported annual profits more than doubling despite a £44 million hit from the collapse of Carillion.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Mar 2018, 05:00 BST
Working within capabilitesWorking within capabilites
Working within capabilites

The group behind the Crossrail project has reported underlying pre-tax profits of £196mn for 2017 - up from £69mn the previous year.

Its profit leap comes even though it took a £44m charge on the delayed Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) - a joint venture with Carillion and Galliford Try, which is now due to complete in the summer.

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The group also said it had hired more than 150 employees following the Carillion liquidation, taking on staff who had worked alongside Balfour on a number of joint ventures.

Boss Leo Quinn said the results “clearly demonstrate that our build to last programme is transforming Balfour Beatty”.

Pre-tax profits jumped to £117m from £10m a year earlier, while the UK construction arm posted operating profits of £16m against 2016 losses of £65m.

The results show the order book fell once again, down 8% at £11.4bn, with Balfour putting it down to an ongoing drive for “selective bidding at appropriate terms for those projects best aligned with its capabilities”.

Shares lifted 2% after the results.

Related topics:Crossrail