Covid-19 and ‘technical set-back’ weigh on BAM

Dutch construction group Royal BAM’s UK construction arm suffered a 16% drop in revenue in 2020 after the impact of covid-19 and a “technical set-back” on an unnamed project, however revenue at its civils division grew during the year.

Unveiling its financial results for the past year, Royal BAM Group slipped to a pre-tax profit loss of €236.9m (£205.3m), down from a pre-tax profit of €23.4m (£20.3m) the year before. Turnover dropped to €6.8bn (£5.9bn), down from €7.2bn (£6.2bn) in 2019.

In the UK, revenue at BAM’s construction and property division fell to €894m (£774.8m), down from nearly €1.1bn (£919.6m) in 2019. The division fell into a €3.3m loss, from a €35.6m (£31m) profit in 2019.

But BAM’s civil engineering arm BAM Nuttall increased revenue 11% in 2020 to €974m (£844.2m). Profit was €12.3m (£10.7m), down from €23m (£20m) in 2019.

Royal BAM blamed a “technical set-back on a project under construction” for a weaker first-half performance in its UK construction and property division but said both UK and Irish activities “contributed well” in the second half year.

The group described BAM Nuttall’s underlying performance as “strong” but said its second-half result was impacted by provisions.

CEO of Royal BAM Group Ruud Joosten said: “BAM’s results in the past year do not reflect the underlying potential of the group. Especially, covid-19 has been a cloud over our markets, businesses, clients and colleagues in 2020, and continues to drive uncertainty in our markets. I am impressed with how our people responded to the challenge by adapting our operations, preserving our resilience and supporting our communities.

“From an operational perspective, our activities in Dutch Construction and Property and BAM PPP contributed well in 2020. In our other businesses, there is clearly room for improvement.”