Balfour Beatty Is Back

摘要

Citing a "near-death experience" four years ago for the U.K.'s largest contractor as it faced serial profit warnings and likely sale or collapse, Balfour Beatty plc CEO Leo Quinn says the firm now is on "foundations for the next 100 years." The executive, a BB civil engineer in the 1970s, rejoined as CEO in 2014 from a former role heading a $2.5-billion U.K. defense contractor he is credited with turning around. He told BB investors on March 14 in announcing the firm's 2017 results that it is set to reach "industry-standard" profit margins by year end. The contractor survived its battering from loss-making contracts without increasing debt or raising new equity from shareholders, said Quinn, who restructured its culture and operations.Management was "in a position where [it] had physical assets to sell, unlike Carillion," says Kevin Cammack, an analyst at Cenkos Securities, referring to peer U.K. contractor Carillion plc, which went into compulsory liquidation in January after failing to win support from its creditor. BB's 2017 U.K. operations moved into the black for the first time in recent years, contributing to a $175-million hike in group-underlying profit from operations to $274 million. "Profits have doubled over the past 12 months," said Quinn, adding that BB's $l6-billion order book greatly reduces its "risk profile."