WET News

News+ Atkins reveals nearly a quarter of UK infrastructure organisations are more than ve years away from having digital ways of working embedded. P4 Onsite: Digital Tunnelling Construction of Scottish Water's Shieldhall Tunnel – Scotland's biggest wastewater tunnel – has been completed. P13, 15 Insight: Tanks & storage Repeatable and reproducible quantitative data enables GRP assets to be managed with the same discipline / scienti c approach as for metal assets. P12-13 WET NEWS WATER AND EFFLUENT TREATMENT NEWS Contractor's share price plunges on news it will breach banking covenants by this month. Union seeks urgent talks with troubled Carillion DECEMBER 2017 Volume 23 • Issue 12 UK and Welsh governments sign water powers agreement A s WET News went to press, trade union Unite was seeking urgent talks with Carillion over fresh concerns about the contractor's future. The union, which represents around 1,000 workers at the com- pany and more operating in its supply chain, made the call a- er Carillion's share price plunged following a fresh pro€ ts warning. On November 17, Carillion admit- ted it is set to breach its banking covenants this month and its debts for 2017 are likely to be about £925M. The announcement came less than two months a- er Carillion's board con€ rmed it was forecast "to be in compliance with its € nancial covenants as at 31 December 2017". Unite national oŽ cer for con- struction Bernard McAulay said: "Unite has hundreds of members at Carillion all of whom will be highly concerned about the com- pany's € nancial situation. Aside from the directly employed work- force there are significantly m o re wh o a re e m p l o ye d b y sub-contractors and agencies on Carillion sites throughout the country." McAulay said:""It is vital that the senior management of the Carillion Group sits down with Unite and provides a wart's and all prognosis of the company's long-term future in order for our members to be properly informed of what the future holds. They need to know how Carillion intends to deal with its current € nancial crisis." Since July, Carillion has been focused on reducing costs, col- lecting cash, executing its dispos- als programme and implementing its new operating model. These self-help measures will serve to reduce its average net debt over time, but they will not be suŽ - cient to enable the group to achieve its target net debt to EBITDA ratio of between 1.0 to 1.5 times by the end of 2018. The board said it was in talks with stakeholders regarding a broad range of options to further reduce net debt and repair and strengthen the group's balance sheet. This will require some form of recapitalisation, which could involve a restructuring of the bal- ance sheet. The board expects to start implementing the chosen option in the € rst quarter of 2018. Carillion, which lists several water companies among its client base, indicated in September that compliance with its financial T he UK and Welsh govern- ments are set to form an agreement over water which will see powers shared between the two. Currently, the UK government has powers allowing it to inter- vene if it believes devolved func- tions risk having a "serious a d v e r s e i m p a c t " o n w a t e r resources, water supply or water quality in England. But Welsh ministers do not have reciprocal powers. The protocol, laid jointly before the UK Parliament and National Assembly for Wales, replaces the secretary of state's intervention powers with a recip- rocal agreement between the UK and Welsh governments It dictates no action or inaction of either administration should have any serious adverse impact on either Wales or England. T h e We l s h g o v e r n m e n t describes the deal as an "impor- tant milestone" for Wales' devolu- tion journey. The new protocol is expected to come into force on April 1, 2018. Consultancy and engineering rms 'in rude health' C onsultancy and engineering businesses are "in rude health" despite ongoing business challenges, according to latest European benchmarking study from the"Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE). Rising revenues, headcounts up and increasing pro€ t margins are three of the key headlines from the study. Key € ndings from the study include the average growth of larger UK € rms (250- plus employees) being 10.3%; 79% of SME companies increasing their revenue in the past year; and the total profit of UK and European companies being up 10% on the previous year. ACE chief executive Nelson Ogunshakin said: "On the whole, these are very encouraging results for our industry. Turnover is up, sta¥ numbers are increasing, and profits are continuing to rise, showing that consultancy and engineering € rms are doing well in what has been a very challeng- ing m arketplace over the past 12 months." GRP with value. 10,000L 750,000L potable industry, design & housings. meet your www.precolortankdivision.co.uk enquiries@precolor.co.uk 655545 008 Specialist water & chemical storage www.precolortankdivision.co.uk Email: enquiries@precolor.co.uk Tel: 01630 657281 Fax: 01630 655545 With over 40 year's experience of serving the water industry, our invaluable knowledge has allowed us to design & manufacture an extensive range of standard tanks & housings. We also offer customized solutions tailored to meet your specifi c requirements. Delivering the UK's fi nest quality GRP water & chemical storage tanks with exceptional service and unbeatable value. • One piece tanks ranging from 45L to 97,200L • Semi sectional (two piece) tanks up to 10,000L • IFB, EFB & TIF sectional tanks up to 750,000L • Combined housing tanks up to 13 x 3 x 2.5m • GRP covers • GRP housings & kiosks • WRAS approved water tanks suitable for potable water • Booster set break tanks • Rainwater & storm tanks • Break tanks & header tanks • Feed & Expansion tanks • Effl uent & chemical storage tanks • Grey water & waste water tanks Need to know Carillion's new chief executive, Andrew Davies, will take the reins from April 2 Carillion has been reducing costs, collecting cash, executing its disposals programme and implementing its new operating model since July Repairing and strengthening the group's balance sheet will require some form of recapitalisation Carillion's debts for 2017 are likely to be in the region of £925M covenants was dependent on achieving its underlying forecasts, which assume that the normal pattern of receipts and payments continue alongside the comple- t i o n o f s o m e P P P d i s p o s a l s a n d s e t t l e m e n t re c e i p t s o n contracts. H o w e v e r, C a r i l l i o n n o w expects that a combination of delays to certain PPP disposals, a slippage in the commencement date of a signi€ cant project in the Middle East and lower than expected margin improvements across a small number of UK Sup- port Services deals, partially o¥ set by cost savings initiatives realised in the fourth quarter, will lead to pro€ ts for the year to December 31, 2017 being materially lower than expected. Interim chief executive Keith Cochrane said: "...it is clear that signi€ cant chal- lenges remain and more needs to be done to reduce net debt. I remain focused on addressing this issue before my successor, Andrew Davies, takes up the role on April 2, 2018." "…since it enables us to complete inspection tasks along the entire length of a sewer more quickly, because instead of walking through it, we're flying through it" Raúl Hernández, FCC Environment. P10-11 "I'm taking the chair at an exciting time as we see the Project 13 Community grow and have a real opportunity to reshape the way infrastructure is delivered" Dale Evans, @ One Alliance. P2 infrastructure is

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