Problems in completing Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena pushed Bam’s UK construction division to a £20M loss, but its civils division has seen a healthy uptick in performance.
NCE sister title Construction News reported that the company is also expected to make 40 job cuts from its Construction division.
Results for the first half of 2024, posted by Dutch parent company Royal Bam Group, show that UK construction revenue was €468M (£394.4M) for the period, down from €498M (£429M) in the first half of 2023.
Adjusted EBIDTA for the division swung to a negative €23.6M (-£19.9M), down from €15.5M (£13.4M) in the prior year.
Royal Bam Group chief executive Ruud Joosten named the Co-op Live (pictured) as one of three projects across Europe that had negatively affected the company, along with two school builds in Denmark.
The venue’s opening night was delayed three times due to building issues, including an HVAC unit falling from its ceiling hours before a concert was set to begin. Client Oak View Group previously stated that the contractor “lost a lot of money” as a result.
Last month it was revealed that Bam’s Construction division faced 40 job cuts, a development that was blamed on the “challenging market”. The redundancy consultation was mentioned in this week’s statement but a company spokesperson confirmed no more roles were affected than previously announced.
Joosten praised the performance of the UK civils division, which increased its turnover from €648M (£558.3M) to €758M (£638.9M), and saw its EBITDA rise to €42.8M (£36.1M), having been €16.8M (£14.5M) in the first half of 2023.
The company said in its results statement: “The performance of construction UK was impacted by earlier reported project delays and supply chain issues, and included a substantial loss in the second quarter of 2024 for Co-op Live in Manchester.
“The performance of civil engineering UK was solid, especially in rail.”
The firm added that its civils division was expected to benefit from future government investment in energy and transport.
Across all of its territories, Royal Bam Group’s turnover stood at €3.1bn (£2.6bn) for the period. It posted adjusted EBITDA of €126.4M (£108.9M).
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