Loss making design and build service withdrawn by MITIE Group

Diversified facilities management services business Mitie has announced it is no longer to provide design and build services in the energy sector and will no longer provide mechanical and electrical (M&E) services. It has announced in its preliminary results for the year to March 2014 that the withdrawal of both operations will incur substantial losses – £25.4 million and £22.1 million respectively – so it will now concentrate more closely on its core and more lucrative facilities management markets instead where it sees the ‘potential for growth and [to] meet our margin targets’.  While the firm reports that a number of design and build projects had experienced delays and cost overruns which led to substantial losses, results for the whole of MITIE group show pre-tax profit up 4.3 per cent to £113.3m with revenue up 8.2 per cent to £2.14 billion.

Chief Executive Ruby McGregor-Smith said: “We are very well-positioned as one of the UK’s leading integrated facilities management providers and we have also invested in higher margin markets which will support our growth aspirations. We expect outsourcing opportunities will continue to grow, with a trend towards more clients seeking to access bundled and integrated services. We are confident that we will continue to build on our track record of delivering sustainable, profitable growth.”