18 November 2014 – trading update
The company has announced its Q3 trading update, covering the period to 17 November and this has confirmed that trading has continued as expected. The UK construction business continues to reduce its costs and the independent review of the business by KPMG is well under way with the report expected by the end of the year. The remaining businesses are trading as expected and, at the end of the period, the order book stood at £11.7bn, the same level as at the half year end on continuing operations. Average net debt for the nine months to the end of September was £477m. The disposal of Parsons Brinkerhoff completed on 31 October and the cash consideration of £753m was received on that date. The fact that there is no further bad news is encouraging although cautious investors may want to wait the results of the KPMG investigation before investing. FIRM HOLD.