UK construction cuts continue at Balfour

Balfour Beatty has issued a trading statement for the last two months stating the contractor is trading in line with market expectations.

The contractor - which has had a torrid two years, during which time it has had to report five profit warnings - gave no update on its profit expectations today.

Balfour said it was continuing to drawback from the UK construction market, with “further overhead reductions and additional supply chain savings”, as well as cuts to its regional business to “reduce both its exposure to smaller contracts and its number of delivery units”.

An independent review by accountants KPMG into the firm’s UK construction services contracts is “well under way”, with the report expected to be published by the end of the year, the firm confirmed.

Balfour added: “The remainder of the Construction Services division and the Group’s other operating divisions, Support Services and Infrastructure Investments, continued to trade as expected.”

The firm said its debt position would be improved by the £753m sale of its consulting arm Parsons Brinckerhoff to WSP, which completed during the period,on 31 October.

Leo Quinn, currently chief executive of Qinetiq, will take over as chief executive of Balfour on 1 January 2015, with the search for a non-exec chairman and chief financial officer ongoing.