Pre-tax profit at Bam Construct & Ventures fell by more than a quarter in 2022 after it set aside £20m to deal with an unnamed contract.
The company’s profit totalled £14.6m in the year ending 31 December 2022, compared with £20.4m the year before, delivering a 1.5 per cent margin compared with 2.2 per cent in 2021.
The bottom line in its latest audited accounts, posted on Companies House, included a £20.7m provision for an unnamed “onerous contract”.
There was little additional detail in the accounts, with Bam Construct saying only that the provision related to future performance-based obligations to be fulfilled under the contract.
The firm – the parent company of Bam Construction, Bam Facilities Management and Bam Properties – also carried over an unnamed £2.4m contract provision from the previous year.
Construction News approached Bam Construct for further comment.
Bam Construct referenced other provisions, including one worth £1.3m relating to a lease on one of its property developments, and a £200,000 provision relating to a former Bam insurer that went into insolvency.
Revenue at Bam Construct was up from £918.6m to £982.3m, which it put down to the firm “continu[ing] to grow and recover from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Bam also noted it was focusing on projects in construction and facilities management that “deliver strong margins”.
The firm had no bank debt and paid out £4m in dividends in 2022.
Looking ahead, Bam Construct reported a forward order book of £1.72bn, compared £1.8bn the year before.
It also said it had secured projects including Space House, a 255,000 square foot office space in the centre of London, and the Hampton by Hilton hotel in Nuneaton.
