‘No change’ in performance at Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty this morning said there had been “no change in performance” following last month’s profit warning, its second in six months.

The firm warned investors last month that profits at its UK construction business would be £50 million below expectations and that group chief executive Andrew McNaughton had taken control of the unit personally “to address the operational issues”.

In this morning’s first-quarter trading update, Balfour Beatty said: “In a UK marketplace that continues to be adversely impacted by the shortage of major public projects and fierce competition in the regional markets, our total construction revenue declined by 11 per cent in the first quarter, driven mainly by a 23 per cent fall in UK construction.

“Following the completion of the internal review of the UK regional and major projects businesses, we reaffirm that the profitability of construction services has been impacted by a circa £50m profit shortfall in UK construction as announced in our trading update on 29 April.

“As a result, the UK construction business is expected to break even in the full year.