Balfour Beatty

UK engineering giant Balfour Beatty has returned to profit after two years of losses. The company behind Crossrail and the transformation of the former Olympic Stadium into West Ham's ground made an £8m profit, after a £199m loss in 2015. Balfour said it had allowed its business to become too complex after a series of takeovers. Chief executive Leo Quinn said the company's leadership, processes and controls had been upgraded. "The transformation of Balfour Beatty is well under way," he said. High profile projects The company said that, by 2014, it had become overly complex following more than a decade of acquisition-led growth. It added there had been an overall lack of leadership and strategic direction, and that its businesses had a tendency to compete with each other. However, Balfour says its business has now been simplified. The company is involved in some of the country's highest profile building projects. As well as Crossrail, which will link west and east London, it is upgrading motorways and working on the Thames Tideway Tunnel. In the next few years it plans to be part of the country's three biggest infrastructure projects: High Speed 2 (HS2), the new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point C and Wylfa, and the third runway at Heathrow airport. 'Reasonable foundations' Analysts have been encouraged by the company's progress. "The self-help phase of the turnaround plan has restored the group to reasonable foundations, with the all-important construction division back in profit in the second half," said Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "The strategy now calls for the group to rebuild margins towards something close to industry standard - at around 2% it's not an overly ambitious target on the face of it, but something Balfour have failed to achieve for some time," he said. Balfour said it was upbeat about prospects as the "trading environment in the group's core UK and US markets remains positive". "In the UK, government policy is helping to drive a strong pipeline of major infrastructure projects in transport and energy. "In the US, the new administration has made infrastructure one of its key priorities."

B hat in den Jahren 2007 und 2008 offenbar Auftraege zu mehr als duennen Margen angenommen. Diese Margen reichten wohl nicht aus, die in Bauauftraegen immer inneliegenden Probleme auszugleichen. Das fuehrt jetzt zu einem scharfen Ertragsrueckgang, der vielleicht sogar in Verlusten enden kann. KPMG soll Zahlen durchleuchten. Schlecht fuer B-Aktionaere. Carillion-Aktionaere werden sich freuen, dass sie die angesteuerte Fusion mit B. nicht "erleben".

Balfour hat die sehr profitable US-Tochter Parsons Brinckerhoff fuer 820 Mio Pfund verkauft. Davon will B. 200 Mio Pfund an Aktionaere auskehren. 85 Mio Pfund sollen in die Pensionskasse fliessen. Mit dem Verkauf ist B. jetzt aber einen Profitbringer los. Und damit zu einem reinrassigeren Bauunternehmen mit zusaetzlichen Dienstleistungen fuer Infrastrukturen geworden. Es wird tatsaechlich noch immer darauf spekuliert, dass B. ein Uebernahmekandidat bleibt. Denn als "reines" Bauunternehmen ist B. nur ein kleine Kugel im Rosenkranz-der-Internationalen-Bauunternehmen. Vielleicht zu klein...?

Das Balfour-Management lehnt C's Uebernahmeabsicht weiter ab. Jetzt will C die Aktionäre Balfour's direkt ansprechen. Besonders attraktiv ist C's (noch bisheriges) Angebot nicht: es soll eine Zusatzdividende "on top" auf eine spaeter nach Fusion zu zahlende Dividende geben. Ziemlich mager.