11th May 2005 12:16
Carillion PLC11 May 2005 11 May 2005 Carillion plc AGM statement At the company's Annual General Meeting in Birmingham today, Carillion chairmanPhilip Rogerson made the following comments. "I should like to begin by paying tribute to my predecessor, Sir Neville Simms,who stood down as chairman and as a director of the company today. "Sir Neville was chairman and chief executive of Carillion from its launch as anindependent company in 1999 until January 2001, since when he has been ournon-executive chairman. "Sir Neville's leadership has been a key factor in establishing Carillion as oneof the UK's leading support services and construction companies. A clear vision,strong values and consistent strategy have completely transformed Carillion'sbusiness. At its launch in 1999, Carillion was predominantly a constructioncompany. Today, it generates around half its turnover and over two thirds of itsprofit from support services, with the balance coming from a strong, but moreselective, construction business. As a result, the scale and quality ofCarillion's earnings have increased substantially, strong cash generation hascreated a healthy balance sheet and its order book has grown significantly inboth size and quality. "Sir Neville can be justifiably proud that he leaves Carillion in good shape andin the hands of a Board that has been restructured and refreshed, in line withthe announcement he made at last year's AGM. "On behalf of the Board I should also like to thank Jean-Paul Parayre, who leftthe Board at the end of 2004, and Andrew Parrish who is not seeking re-electiontoday, for the significant contributions they have made to Carillion's success."The appointment of David Garman as a non-executive director in September 2004,of myself as a non-executive director and deputy chairman in October 2004 and myappointment as chairman today, complete the changes to the Board since the lastAGM. "Turning to the outlook for 2005, trading conditions in our key markets haveremained positive and in line with expectations. In the first quarter of theyear, Carillion signed new orders worth over £450 million. Notable successesinclude reaching financial close on the £150 million schools PPP contract forRenfrewshire, a £100 million contract for new schools in Leeds, two NHScontracts worth over £50 million, a further construction contract for the DubaiFestival City development, worth nearly £60 million, and a highways maintenancecontract in Canada worth almost £40 million. "In addition, we have announced this morning that a Carillion-led joint venturehas been selected by the Ministry of Defence as the designated support servicessupplier for the Defence Housing PRIME contract worth in the region of £700million. We have also agreed heads of terms for a three-year extension to theMonteray facilities management contract with BT, potentially worth around £300million, that would extend our existing five-year contract to March 2009. As aresult, our pipeline of probable new orders has increased to over £2.5 billion. "Carillion is also continuing to invest to support and deliver growth, bothorganically and by acquisition, in line with its strategy. The acquisition ofPlanned Maintenance Engineering (PME), a leading UK building services andmaintenance company, in March 2005, is an excellent example. The integration ofPME is going well and the performance of the business is meeting ourexpectations. As well as bringing good quality earnings to the Group, its strongmechanical and electrical engineering maintenance capability is alreadyenhancing Carillion's ability to offer existing and new customers fullyintegrated building services solutions. "Given the Group's performance in the year to date, the healthy level of neworders secured and growing pipeline of probable new orders, the Board remainsconfident that Carillion will continue to make further progress in 2005". This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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