The contractor, bought by French construction giant Bouygues in 2022, now concentrates new build activity solely on student accommodation while ramping up efforts in energy retrofits and housing refurb markets.
Despite the strategic shift, continued costs from closing out new build jobs continue to dog Equans which has just posted a pre-tax loss of £39m for 2023, improved from the eye-watering £136m plunge into the red the year before.
Actual one-off losses from the decision not to seek future construction and regeneration work and wind-down certain loss-making regions, amounted to £59m (2022: £104m).
Turnover at the business, which employs 3,000 staff, slipped marginally to £907m as Equans began the two-year close-out of existing housing jobs.
Subtracting house building work, revenue from its four remaining core markets stood at £690m.
Continued losses prompted a cash injection of £60m in July from the parent company with Equans also now granted access up to £70m from the parent group cash pool for monthly cash flow requirements. This facilitit will drop to £50m by December this year and £20m by the end of 2025.
Colin Macpherson, Divisional CEO at Equans, said the underlying £16m trading profit delivered by the business in its new core business streams was encouraging.
He said: “The underlying trading performance of the other four markets ERL operates in – traditional refurbishment, sustainable/low carbon refurbishment, PPP structured finance and Local government services – has continued to progress.
“These results show an improving position for the business, with positive recurring revenues from resilient, better performing markets where we see long-term opportunities for Equans Regeneration Limited.
“This is offset by the challenging conditions faced within the new build sector, from which we announced a phased withdrawal from in 2023.
He added: “The outlook for 2024 is positive, underpinned by a robust pipeline and strong operational delivery of contracts.”
Looking forward, Equans expects to finalise its PPP finance student housing deal with Birmingham University this September.
The firm has also secured a £72m contract from Notting Hill Genesis to retrofit the Paragon Estate in Brentford, bringing 1,000 flats back into use between 2025 and 2026.
Equans has also extended council homes planned maintenance partnerships with Birmingham and Manchester city councils, which it said will provide future revenues of £160m and £78m respectively until at least 2026/27.
