Bam Construction reports £31.4m loss

Bam Construction has reported a £31.4m pre-tax loss after struggling with high inflation and supply chain insolvency.

The contractor lost money on revenue of £897.6m in the year to 31 December 2023 – representing a small reduction from the £900.9m it turned over in 2022, according to newly published financial accounts.

“Profitability has been impacted by high inflation conditions within the UK and [the] impact of unprecedented levels of supply chain liquidations,” said Bam Construction executive director Kim Sides in a strategic report.

Bam’s revenue increased throughout 2023 as projects that were paused during the Covid-19 pandemic were finally built out. But the firm’s forward-order book stood at just £606m at year end, 38 per cent lower than the £971.6m total it posted a year earlier.

“Work in hand has reduced in the year as Bam Construction Limited continues to be selective in the projects it undertakes, and the high inflation and interest environment resulted in delays to new project commencements,” Sides said.

“The board considers the current order book, strong pipeline and focus on driving quality of revenue will provide opportunity for profitable growth in the future.”

The company ended the year with net assets of £365.6m, down from £386.3m a year earlier, including cash and cash equivalents of £37.6m.

Bam Construction announced it was making “a small amount of redundancies” in July 2023, as it unveiled plans to restructure the company into five rather than seven operating regions. Bam said in June that it was making a further 40 job cuts across its UK and Ireland operations.

Former Bam Construction chief executive James Wimpenny retired in January after six years at the helm, while Sides joined Bam in Aprilhaving previously worked at rival contractors including Lendlease and Laing O’Rourke.

Bam Construction’s immediate parent company is Bam Construct & Ventures, which made a loss of €14.8m (£12.6m) in 2023according to unaudited financial figures posted by Royal Bam, the Netherlands-listed ultimate parent company for both firms.

Bam Construction made a loss of £19.9m in the first half of 2024 due to exceptional costs in finishing the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, according to unaudited results published by Royal Bam last month.