Carillion reports flat sales and profit decline following forex headwinds

4th Mar 2015 07:59

Carillon has reported flat sales and a 1% drop in underlying pretax profit for 2014 in light of volatile trading and foreign exchange headwinds.The company recorded flat revenue worth £4.1bn for the year ending December 2014. This adhered to consensus expectation the came following declines offset by construction business growth in Carillion's UK and Middle East arms.This growth was kicked-off by £95m in foreign exchange effects and a drop in revenue for the company's public private partnership (PPP) projects. Some of these PPP investments were on track to be sold, something Carillon has since noted at the reason for its 1% underlying profit before tax drop to £172.9m.The FTSE 250 company purchased 60% of the Rokstad Power Corporation for £33m back in December and had won £5.1bn worth of new orders alongside a queue of contracts amounting to £39.2bn.Contracts in the company's pipeline included developments from Kings Cross to Dubai as well as a new deal with Scape Group to prove a new facilities management framework for up to £1.5bn over six years.Chief executive Richard Howson commented on the contract win: "We are delighted to have been selected by Scape as their partner for delivering facilities management services to public sector bodies through this innovative framework."Combining Carillion's national FM capability with Scape's unique link to the public sector will provide customers with efficient access to value-for-money services."Talking about the company's latest results, chairman Philip Green said: "In 2014, our markets remained challenging and we continued to be very selective in choosing the contracts for which we bid in order to maintain margin discipline, which continues to be a key element of our strategy."Looking forward, we expect the steady improvement in our markets that began in 2014 to continue in 2015, subject to a sustained macro-economic recovery."Therefore, with strong cash flow, a high-quality order book, record revenue visibility and a growing pipeline of contract opportunities, we continue to believe the Group is well-positioned to make progress over the medium term."