BALFOUR BEATTY PLC LONDON (Reuters) - Troubled British infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (>> Balfour Beatty plc) plans to make new appointments to its leadership team, merge some operations and squeeze more savings from suppliers to repair the damage from a string of profit warnings last year.
The company's new Chief Executive, Leo Quinn, said on Tuesday that the proposed changes are part of a programme to transform the business after a series of setbacks that have sent its share price to a 12-year low.
Having been hit by wafer-thin margins in its hunt for business during the recession, Balfour issued five profit warnings within two years, cancelled a 200 million pound ($306 million) share buyback and put its dividend under review in January.
Shares in Balfour, which employs around 36,000 people in about 80 countries, lost 26 percent of their value last year, making the company vulnerable to circling predators. Rival Carillion (>> Carillion plc) made three unsolicited bids in July, each of which was snubbed.
"The group's recent trading makes it imperative to gain early momentum in our transformation plans," CEO Quinn, a turnaround specialist who took the reins at the start of the year, said in a statement.
"While further challenges remain, there are clear opportunities to achieve improvements in cash generation and profitability in the near term."
Quinn said that further detail will be available when the company reports preliminary results in March.
(Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; Editing by David Goodman)
