Sale at Mowlem

Services and construction company Carillion has agreed to sell Barclay Mowlem to Laing O’Rourke Australia for £30 million in cash. Carillion will use the proceeds from the sale to reduce its debt.

Barclay Mowlem was acquired by Carillion as part of its acquisition of Mowlem in February 2006. The business, which has its head office is in Sydney, Australia, is focused on a number of construction markets in Australia and South East Asia and is non-core business for Carillion.

In 2005, Barclay Mowlem had sales of £380 million and a loss before tax of £16.4 million. Its gross assets at 31 December 2005 were £118 million. After disposal costs and retained contract liabilities the sale is unlikely to generate a material profit.

The sale will not include Barclay Mowlem’s 13.9 per cent interest in Freightlink, the Special Purpose Company responsible for the Alice to Darwin PPP rail project.