Laing O’Rourke does not expect any negative impact on UK construction as a result of Brexit.
Following the unveiling of its annual results, the company said it UK business had “mapped and analysed” the potential challenges that may result from the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.
“To date [it] has not identified any material direct negative impact on the UK construction market either in the traditional built environment or infrastructure sectors.
“The business has not seen any deterioration to forecast revenues on its existing contracts due to Brexit, and reports a steady reduction in voluntary staff attrition over the last 12 months with strong retention of the EU nationals employed in our business,” it said.
The comments came after Laing O’Rourke set out its results for the year ended 31 March 2018, the second full trading year since the company announced record losses in the year ended 31 March 2016.
Group revenue stood at £2.9bn for the year, down from £3.2bn the year before, while statutory EBIT showed a £27.5m loss, down from a £52.4m loss the year before.
The company recorded a number of exceptional costs, including a £13.2m hit to its European business as a result of costs related to refinancing and other financial adviser fees. The company has now completed its refinancing, which proved to be a drawn-out process and led to Laing O’Rourke’s accounts being filed late.
Revenue in the group’s European hub was £2.1bn, down from £2.2bn in 2016/17 and statutory EBIT was £10.3m, improving on a loss of £51.9m the year before.
‘Embracing innovation’
Chief executive Ray O’Rourke said: “We met our key performance targets through a concerted effort across the company to increase our efficiencies and embrace innovation. Getting to this point has not been easy, and we have no doubt that the road ahead will be no less challenging.
“Key to our strategy has been completion of the refinancing of our UK business in February 2019 and our Australian business earlier in 2018. We have maintained our commitment to keep all of our stakeholders, including clients and those in our supply chain, regularly informed of our progress and intentions. In return, we have been gratified by the loyal support we have received in recent years. We see our success, in steps large and small, as a way to inspire confidence and investment in the construction sector at a time when our competitors and members of our supply chain are facing unprecedented obstacles.
“Laing O’Rourke’s optimism for 2019 stems from £8.1 billion in high-quality secured and anticipated work globally. This has been achieved through intense focus on core markets and sectors; enhanced bidding and process discipline; client engagement with our offsite manufacturing; unique and full integrated direct-delivery with in-house specialist subsidiaries; and an experienced, long-term senior leadership team.”
