{"id":34744,"date":"2016-11-17T21:36:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T14:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/atkins-middle-east-reports-lower-revenue-and-liquidity-pressure\/"},"modified":"2016-11-17T21:55:31","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T14:55:31","slug":"atkins-middle-east-reports-lower-revenue-and-liquidity-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/atkins-middle-east-reports-lower-revenue-and-liquidity-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Atkins Middle East reports lower revenue and liquidity pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBuilding consultancy Atkins has reported a decline in \u00adrevenue in its Middle East business in the six months to September 30, and tightening liquidity as clients continue to delay payments.The UK-based company’s Middle East unit reported a 12 per cent year-on-year decline in revenue to \u00c2\u00a3104.9 million (Dh481.2m), although on a constant currency basis it fell by 22 per cent, the company said yesterday. Operating profit also declined by 41 per cent to \u00c2\u00a36.6m.In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, the company said that it had “seen no improvement in the liquidity situation … as clients continue to extend payment terms, resulting in increased debt provisioning”.”Cash collection remains a key focus across the region,” it said.At the end of September, the average number of employees working for Atkins in the Middle East dropped by 5.4 per cent to 2,420, compared with 2,557 in a year-earlier period. Employee numbers have dropped by 1.6 per cent since March, the company said, reflecting “more challenging conditions in the transportation and infrastructure markets in particular”.Atkins is working on the Doha Metro project, where it is project manager for construction of the Gold Line – one of four new lines being built under the first phase, which is due to complete in 2020.In Saudi Arabia, it is project manager for three of the six lines being built for the Riyadh Metro, overseeing the Spanish-led FAST consortium building lines 4, 5 and 6. It is also advising the Economic Cities Authority in the kingdom on the development of four new cities.The company was more upbeat on the property sector, especially in the UAE, where it delivered the Dubai Opera House for Emaar Properties. Its Faithful + Gould cost and programme management division is also managing the Dubai Creek Harbour project for Emaar, but has faced payment delays in Saudi Arabia and in Qatar. Atkins said the “sustained low oil price and consequent changes to spending priorities are increasing uncertainty in the region”. However, at group level, it achieved strong revenue and profit growth in North America, and higher profits in the UK and Europe. Group revenue was 10 per cent higher at \u00c2\u00a3994.7m and underlying net profit was 11 per cent higher at \u00c2\u00a347.7m, although when impairments and other one-off costs were added its reported net profit dropped by 58 per cent to \u00c2\u00a322.4m.Uwe Krueger, the chief executive of Atkins, said: “Despite challenges in some markets, we have delivered good underlying profitability and the near-term outlook in our UK and North American businesses is particularly positive.”Earlier this week, US project management consultancy Hill International also reported a worsening financial performance in the three months to September, which it blamed on an increase in bad debts from Middle Eastern clients. Dubai-based contractor Drake & Scull also said that it is planning a “real transformation” of its business, which could include retrenching its ambition of being a civil works contractor and “taking a more conservative stance” over the recoverability of outstanding debts. Speaking at a British Business Group event in Dubai this week, Ben Hughes, a director at Deloitte’s Capital Projects division, said: “A lot of our focus at the moment is around distress. There’s a lot of distress in the market – both in terms of liquidity and balance-sheet positions for contractors, real estate companies and the whole supply chain.”mfahy@thenational.ae Follow The National’s Business section on Twitter
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\nSource : thenational.ae
\nRead more…Atkins Middle East reports lower revenue and liquidity pressure<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Building consultancy Atkins has reported a decline in \u00adrevenue in its Middle East business in...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75ss1-92o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21721,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/atkins-shifts-people-into-property-as-middle-east-transport-and-infra-work-slows\/","url_meta":{"origin":34744,"position":0},"title":"Atkins shifts people into property as Middle East transport and infra work slows","date":"August 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Building consultancy Atkins is planning to redeploy some of its staff from its transport and infrastructure businesses into its property arm in the Middle East as capital spending by governments on major new projects remains subdued.The UK-based company, which announced in February this year that it was cutting 100\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52638,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/atkins-board-agrees-to-a2-1bn-takeover-approach-from-canadas-snc-lavalin\/","url_meta":{"origin":34744,"position":1},"title":"Atkins board agrees to \u00c2\u00a32.1bn takeover approach from Canada's SNC Lavalin","date":"April 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r The board of UK-based construction consultancy Atkins has accepted a \u00c2\u00a32.1 billion (Dh9.88bn) offer for its business from SNC Lavalin, the Canadian construction and engineering group.The offer, which was first announced this month, values Atkins at \u00c2\u00a320.80 per share, a 35 per cent premium on the \u00c2\u00a315.40 price that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39083,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/year-in-review-contractors-felt-the-pinch-as-saudi-arabia-prioritised-spending\/","url_meta":{"origin":34744,"position":2},"title":"Year in review: Contractors felt the pinch as Saudi Arabia prioritised spending","date":"December 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Major contractors in Saudi Arabia have suffered a terrible 2016, with the two biggest names of the sector - Saudi Binladin and Saudi Oger - being hit hardest by a government decision to halt payments to contractors on all but a handful of key projects.Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) either\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4015,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/uk-firm-atkins-sheds-100-jobs-as-construction-hit-by-tightening-middle-east-budgets\/","url_meta":{"origin":34744,"position":3},"title":"UK firm Atkins sheds 100 jobs as construction hit by tightening Middle East budgets","date":"February 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r Construction companies are laying off staff as experts warn that the low cost of oil will continue to bite into budgets this year.Last week the British engineering company Atkins became the latest construction-related firm to cut jobs in the region as it made about 100 of its 2,000\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50656,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/hill-international-chief-expects-further-shrinkage-in-middle-east-operations-in-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":34744,"position":4},"title":"Hill International chief expects further shrinkage in Middle East operations in 2017","date":"April 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r The head of US project management company Hill International has said it expects its business in the Middle East to decline further this year and is prepared to take appropriate cost-cutting measures.Speaking on an investors' call after revealing a net loss of US$18.8m for 2016, compared to a net\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2717,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/uae-property-to-be-hit-by-lack-of-bank-funding-says-jll\/","url_meta":{"origin":34744,"position":5},"title":"UAE property to be hit by lack of bank funding, says JLL","date":"January 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r Developers in the GCC will struggle to raise bank funding for new projects in 2016 as liquidity tightens across the region, according to JLL.The consultancy highlighted the lack of bank funding as the main trend to impact on real estate markets across the UAE in 2016. Citing worsening\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}