Supply Chain

John F Hunt’s pre-tax profit declined after inflationary pressures saw the group's margin narrow from 6 to 4.4 per cent. The second-largest demolition specialist in the UK reported a £7.9m pre-tax profit in the year to 31 March 2024, which was down on the £9.5m profit from the previous year.…

Facade and curtain walling specialist Permasteelisa UK has cut its pre-tax loss by 40 per cent after “resolving issues around legacy projects”, according to its latest annual accounts. The Italian contractor’s UK arm reported a pre-tax loss of £6.8m in the year to 31 March 2024, marking an improvement on…

Diligent subcontractors are being undercut and losing work thanks to a lack of client knowledge about the post-Grenfell building safety regime, according to a leading trade body. Trade body the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) said clients are still subjecting contractors to aggressive and sub-economic pricing due to a lack…

M&E firm Enerveo has reported an 83 per cent narrowing of its pre-tax losses, shortly after being bought back by its former parent company. According to accounts covering the year ending 31 March 2024, nine days after the firm was repurchased by its former parent, energy company SSE, Enerveo shrunk…

Keltbray has to pay £18m for its role in demolition’s cover bidding scandal after it its appeal against the penalty issued by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) failed on two out of three counts. The contractor appealed against the £20m financial penalty imposed by the Competitions and Markets Authority…

By Thames Menteth A property developer has lost a legal case for £7.5M of damages against two engineering firms whose ground investigations failed to identify a ground hazard at a proposed development site near Reading. Property development company Darcliffe had claimed the damages for negligence and breach of contract from…

Earthworks specialist ZTL Contracting has grown its turnover by two-fifths, according to its latest filing. The Middlesbrough-registered firm - which also has offices in Wakefield - posted revenue of £19.5m for the six months to the end of April this year. This equated to a 41 per cent increase, on…

Planning obstacles, land purchase challenges and financial pressures are inhibiting growth for smaller housebuilding firms, experts have warned. Without changes to planning laws and improved financing in the sector, SME housebuilders will be unable to increase their market share as the sector gears up to build 1.5 million homes by…

Credit insurance has helped to protect a structural steel firm’s bottom line from the collapse of ISG. A trading update to the London Stock Exchange by Billington Holdings plc this morning (11 December) revealed its credit insurer had already made an interim settlement on a claim for ISG work. The…

Contractor workload was hit by rising costs in the mechanical and electrical (M&E) sector this summer, according to new research. This resulted in tender growth falling to a three-and-a-half year low, according to a survey by leading framework provider Southern Construction Framework (SCF). Although tender workload was up 0.9 per…