Consultant posts loss of 拢1.6m for past 18 months after carrying out centralisation plan

Quantity surveyor Currie & Brown has posted a 拢1.6m loss in its latest set of accounts.

Euan McEwan, the firm鈥檚 chief executive (pictured), delayed filing the results for six months as part of a strategy to 鈥渟mooth out profits鈥�.

He has been trying to overhaul the company that he joined in 2005, and the figures include 拢2.8m of restructuring costs.

McEwan said the results, which showed an underlying profit of 拢500,000 on a turnover of 拢87m, were 鈥渟till not good enough鈥� but were 鈥渁 step in the right direction鈥�.

He said: 鈥淲hen I came on board, the overhead was inappropriate for the company, and it was investing in areas that weren鈥檛 working. We have addressed that, and without getting overly optimistic, the trading is encouraging.鈥�

As part of the restructuring, McEwan has brought the company under tighter central control and focused it on sectors rather than regions. The company is divided into public, private, industrial and financial services.

He said: 鈥淧reviously it had been left to local offices to chase work, but we are now trying to anticipate deals on a national level. We鈥檝e changed the structure so that I am personally much closer to operations.鈥�

McEwan said the company expected to report an operating profit ahead of expectations for the first six months of the trading year, to 31 March 2007.

He said that the company was now targeting 鈥渟ignificantly improved margins鈥� as part of a rolling three-year strategic plan.

Currie & Brown has operations across the UK and in the US, Middle East, India, Hong Kong, Australia and Azerbaijan.

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