Atkins pays £2.6m to ditch US construction business
Engineering consultancy Atkins has paid £2.6m to dispose of its loss-making US construction management firm Peter Brown to Florida-based construction frim Moss & Associates.
Peter Brown, which currently employs 50 staff, reported an operating loss of £6.5m, on revenue of £24.4m, in the year to 31 March 2013. This included losses on the completion of certain legacy construction contracts, the final one of which will be completed in the spring of next year and does not form part of the business transferring to Moss.
Atkins therefore expects the total loss from the disposal to be around £3.0m.
Chief executive Uwe Krueger said:
The disposal of our Peter Brown business is another step in the implementation of our strategy, which includes the optimisation of our portfolio of businesses. e believe Moss is a more appropriate company to take this business forward and this will allow our North American management team to focus on growing our core engineering consultancy business in the region.
The transaction is due to complete on 30 August 2013.