Construction company Balfour Beatty has reported £59m losses in 2014 and said as a result it will not pay out annual dividends to shareholders
The struggling construction firm Balfour Beatty saw significant profit losses last year, it has emerged.
Balfour reported a catalogue of issues over the last 18 months, leading to the sale of a numerous assets including its consultancy agency Parsons Brinckerhoff and Blackpool Airport.
Now, the company has reported £59m losses and said it will not pay the annual dividends after falling into the red.
Last year, Chief Executive Andrew McNaughton resigned and was replaced by Leo Quinn. This latest news highlights the plight facing the new head as he tries to pull the struggling company out of the financial mire.
According to the figure, Balfour saw annual pre-tax losses of £304m, which decreased to £59m once profits from discontinued operations were included. Additionally, the order book for future projects fell seven per cent to £11.4bn.
Balfour also saw revenues from UK construction fall six per cent to £2.35bn as the company tried to work through problems that had been highlighted in an operational review undertaken by finance specialists KPMG. This led to a further £117m provision to cover risks in some of its contracts.
The struggling company has reported six profit warnings over the last two years. Balfour said while it will not recommend a dividend this year it expects to resume payments in 2016 if performance improves. The company has already cancelled its £200m share buyback and delayed pension fund payments in an attempt to get back on track.
Quinn said: “Our transformation programme, Build to Last, is gaining rapid traction and we are driving initial improvements of £200 million cash in, £100 million cost out over 24 months.”
