Jobs to go as PFI firm Ballast hit

HUNDREDS of south of England construction workers are facing the axe after struggling Anglo-Dutch industrial group Ballast Nedam said it planned drastically to scale back its heavily loss-making operations in Britain.

The news from the company, deeply involved in the Government's Private Finance Initiative, follows a traumatic time for the sector last week when shares in the likes of Amey and Carillion were savagely marked down.

Ballast revealed a far worse than expected e105m (£67m) first-half loss on Friday, sending the shares tumbling 30% to e13, the lowest since they started trading in 1994. The company said it now feared a 'substantial loss' for the year.

Chairman Rene Kottman said the group planned a 'controlled' withdrawal from Britain, where it lost e51m in the first half of the year, mainly in the south of England.

Ballast employs 1200 in Britain, more than 500 in the South-East and South-West. It is already committed to cutting 200 jobs by the year-end but Kottman warned: 'It is clear the restructuring will be stepped up and that will cause additional job losses'.

The North of England and Private Finance Initiative divisions are said to be doing better and may be sold. Kottman said interest had been expressed in taking over the UK operations.

Ballast, once owned by British Aerospace, has been responsible for a number of high-profile UK projects.

These include the construction of Premier league football club Sunderland's Stadium of Light, two modern stands at neighbouring Newcastle United's St James' Park and the modernisation of Headingley cricket ground in Leeds.

It was also short-listed for Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and is currently on the short list for PFI projects in Camden, Islington, Bexley and Reading.

The company, which has its British headquarters in Harmondsworth, Middlesex, is regarded as one of the more oldfashioned contractors and has struggled to win flagship contracts in the South.

In a recent memo to staff, Ballast's UK managing director Philip Cooper said: 'I appreciate that looking at our competitors does not alleviate our own problems, but the continuing problems at Amey put them in a very tight position and at least our publicity is not reaching the national newspapers.î

A recent profile of Ballast by the respected trade publication Builder & Engineer In-Line said that the company's car park in Harmondsworth was home to ' more an armada than a fleet of BMWs and Mercedesî.

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