Financial

Doomed disruptor Legal & General Homes Modular Ltd has posted its seventh consecutive annual pre-tax loss, as it implements a plan to cease all operations within the next two years. The business, which launched in 2016 with grand plans to “modernise the homebuilding industry”, said it would wind down by…

Newly released Creditsafe data shows that construction administrations almost doubled year-on-year in October, with 37 failures compared with 19 the year before. And the year-to-date total of 312 marks a 58 per cent increase compared with the first 10 months of 2022. Eleven firms were large enough to file turnover…

A £57m-turnover West Yorkshire contractor has ceased trading after projects were delayed or cancelled. Bradford-headquartered HB Projects, which specialised in work throughout the retail, commercial and industrial sectors, said this week that it was going to appoint administrators. The firm’s directors said in a statement: “This has been a difficult…

Morgan Sindall has reported a “growing” workload in its latest trading update, as it predicted a full-year performance in line with its expectations. The firm said its total secured order book at 30 September was £9.1bn, an increase of 7 per cent from its previous year-end position and level with…

Mace Group has announced the management buyout of its facilities-management arm Mace Operate, which has now rebranded as Macro. The buyout was led by Mace Operate chief executive Ross Abbate and chief financial officer Chris Bampton. Mark Holmes, who announced in September that he would step down as Mace’s deputy…

Netherlands-based private equity firm Mutares has acquired modern methods of construction specialist Byldis UK for an undisclosed sum. The UK firm spun out of the Hurks group (also based in the Netherlands) in 2018 and now employs more than 400 people with a head office in London. Mutares invests in…

Jonathan Parker is development director at national framework provider Pagabo This year has seen several big names in the construction industry hit financial difficulty, and prevailing wisdom suggests that the list is only going to grow longer. Indeed, data from the Insolvency Service shows a 19 per cent rise in…

Bouygues Energies & Services (E&S) UK has has recorded a pre-tax profit for 2022, ending five successive years of losses. In its accounts covering the year to 31 December 2022, published by Companies House on 30 October, the UK construction-engineering subsidiary of French group Bouygues reported a pre-tax profit of…

Construction has been named as the sector with the most firms facing “critical” financial pressure, with almost 6,000 businesses on the brink of bankruptcy. The latest Red Flag Alert report from insolvency practitioner Begbies Traynor, covering the third quarter of 2023, said 5,919 construction companies across the UK were in…

The Institute of Directors (IoD) is developing a new code of conduct in the wake of the collapse of Carillion and other corporate scandals. The membership body for directors flagged the findings of research by PR consultancy Edelman, which suggest that trust in UK business is lower than that of…