Financial

Dozens of construction firms and other contractors have been named on the government’s latest list of firms that deliberately defaulted on tax. According to the official list, several small contractors defaulted on hundreds of thousands of pounds each, with one owing almost £2m. Every few months, HMRC publishes information on…

Bellway has set aside £30.5m to resolve a structural building-safety issue at a 12-year-old London housing block – and said it is investigating whether similar issues exist with other buildings. In the company’s preliminary results for the year to 31 July, it set aside £49.6m for “legacy building-safety improvements”. Bellway…

Long-term infrastructure projects have given Barhale a bump in profit and turnover, although the firm incurred an unexpected amount of debt. The firm’s pre-tax profit for the year ending 30 June 2023 increased by a third from the year before, from £3.3m to £4.5m. Turnover, meanwhile, rose by 22 per…

Structural steelwork specialist James Killelea is set to cease trading. The Lancashire-based firm, which has been in business for 53 years, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on Friday (13 October). Many of Killelea’s employees posted on LinkedIn on Friday that they were looking for new jobs. Killelea was…

Civil engineering contractor Alun Griffiths has recorded a pre-tax loss for the fourth financial year in a row. The Abergavenny-based firm posted a £20m loss for the year to 31 December 2022. While this was a significant improvement on the previous year’s loss of £38.1m, it means the company has…

Urban Splash has reported a loss after its modular spin-off entered administration last year. The firm reported a pre-tax loss of £2.9m in its most recent accounts – covering 1 October 2021 to 31 December 2022 – compared with a £6m profit in the year to the end of September…

Materials distributor Brickability has bought Scotland-based cladding and remediation specialist Topek in a deal worth up to £45m. The acquisition is Brickability’s 12th following its public listing in 2019, with the company following a strategy to “broaden and deepen” its portfolio. The deal consists of an initial £27.3m, followed by…

KPMG has been handed a £21m fine for “serious breaches” in audits of Carillion’s financial statements. The consultant failed to adhere to “the most basic and fundamental audit concepts” when signing off Carillion's annual financial statements in three sets of accounts between 2014-2016, according to regulator the Financial Reporting Council.…

Watkin Jones has reduced its profit expectations and now only expects to break even for the year ending 30 September 2023. The build-to-rent specialist warned in a trading update that new cost pressures meant it would no longer achieve the expected pre-tax profit of £2m reported in its last profit…

Turnover at Northern Ireland-based contractor Gilbert-Ash increased for the fourth year in a row in 2022, although inflation took a sizeable bite out of the firm’s profit. Revenue for the year ending 31 December totalled £263.2m, marking a 20 per cent increase on the previous year’s £219.3m. Gilbert-Ash was ranked…