Amey is itself up for sale, after its Spanish parent company Ferrovial decided back in October 2018 to divest its entire services portfolio. And within Amey, the utilities and environmental services business are held for sale separately, following a strategic review, and are thus treated as discontinued operations in the 2019 accounts, now filed at Companies House.
In continuing businesses, revenue at Amey UK grew by £325m in the year ended 31st December 2019 to £1.9bn (2018: £1.5bn), reflecting in part the acquisition of the other half of the CarillionAmey Defence joint venture in 2018. Operating profit was £73.2m (2018: £178.2m loss).
The loss from discontinued operations was £97.2m. After an exceptional impairment charge in respect of these discontinued operations of £158.9m, the total loss after tax was £217.5m.
The waste collections business, now up for sale, made an operating loss of £24.3m on £111m revenue. Including a £31.7m impairment charge relating to the business being put up for sale, its total operating loss was £56m.
The utilities business made an operating loss of £125.3m (including a £92m impairment charge) on revenue of (£393.9m).
Amanda Fisher, who took over as chief executive at the start of 2020, said: “Market conditions have remained challenging with government contracting and outsourcing services remaining firmly in the spotlight whilst the domestic government agenda has been overshadowed by Brexit. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK has also led to significant business challenges to be met, including ensuring the health and safety of all of our employees in this time. Throughout this period, we have remained focused on three key priorities: protecting our employees and the communities we serve; continuing to deliver for our clients and maintaining critical services that the country relies on; and supporting our suppliers.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
