M&A

Rudi Klein is a barrister. He was formerly chief executive of the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group I have a question. Has anybody seen a diminution in the demands for retention monies? Feedback I receive from firms is a definite NO! There is a reason for asking. Cast your minds back…

Leo Quinn, whose departure as Balfour Beatty chief executive was announced today, has had a major impact on transforming his firm – many would argue on the construction industry in general. In a LinkedIn post today, the man who turned round the struggling firm called his role “the best job…

Its founders may be used to winning £100m-plus projects, but Glencar’s swift rise is down to jobs worth less than £10m Glencar’s latest annual results, released in January, revealed higher pre-tax profit from stable turnover for the year to 30 September 2024. The industrial and logistics contractor saw its profit…

A senior executive at Atlas Holdings reveals the reason behind the purchase and the future plans for the contractor A greyscale photo of papermaking machinery hangs on the wall of Atlas Holdings’ UK office in the heart of Mayfair. It illustrates the private equity firm’s beginnings – its 2002 purchase…

David Pickstone is a partner and Anastasia Nourescu is a senior associate at law firm Stewarts HMRC has recently intensified its scrutiny of research and development tax relief claims, targeting inadequate submissions from rogue advisers and seeking to narrow the interpretation of the rules around subsidised and contracted-out R&D. Construction…

Joanna Rees is a partner at law firm Blake Morgan The collapse of ISG in September created waves across the UK’s construction industry. It served as a painful reminder of the knock-on effects that insolvency can have throughout the supply chain, and the challenges it creates in both the private…

10. Supply chain needs helping hand but future is bright, says Caddick MD Caddick Construction managing director Paul Dodsworth told CN senior reporter Joshua Stein that some good had come out of ISG’s collapse a few weeks earlier, in an interview published in October. “I put a post out on…

10. Balfour chasing ‘outstanding sums’ as luxury-flat developer collapses In January it emerged that Balfour Beatty was chasing “outstanding sums” relating to a £200m super prime residential scheme in Mayfair, after its former client entered administration. The contracting giant completed the project in May 2023, five years after its appointment,…

The collapse of the UK’s sixth-biggest contractor, the Grenfell Inquiry phase two report and the change in government all had a massive impact on the industry this year – and will continue to do so in 2025 How will the construction industry remember 2024? Perhaps it will go down as…

This year’s scaffolding index includes just one new entrant but the top and bottom of the rankings have changed. All 10 firms recorded a profit in their most recent accounts and the median pre-tax margin rose to 7.6 per cent compared with 5 per cent in 2023’s index. Turnover broke…