黑洞社区

Speaking at 黑洞社区鈥檚 inaugural Business Leaders Forum in London on Tuesday, Murray Coleman, chief executive of Bovis Lend Lease, said he greeted the findings of the House of Lords economic affairs committee report with 鈥渄isbelief鈥�.

He said: 鈥淭o conclude that immigration has a neutral effect on UK industry 鈥� which includes construction 鈥� is something I struggle to understand. The real risk is that we will discourage the unskilled people that we need to enter the UK industry.鈥�

The government maintains that immigration has contributed an estimated 拢6bn each year to the UK economy.

Also at forum, former MP Michael Portillo sounded a warning note about the progress of high-profile public projects during the current downturn.

He said it was inevitable that major infrastructure projects, including Crossrail, would be delayed because the current 拢40bn level of government borrowing of couldn鈥檛 be extended.

In his speech to the forum, Coleman predicted that the recent flurry of mergers and acquisitions would 鈥渃ontinue over the next 24 months, particularly if the credit crunch鈥檚 effects continues鈥�.

Pascal Minault, chair of Bouygues UK, agreed and said the UK contracting market would follow the French trend towards a handful of huge players in coming years. France is dominated by three large companies 鈥� Bouygues, Vinci and Eiffage 鈥� which over 拢13.1bn, 拢17.8bn and 拢8.7bn respectively.

Minault said: 鈥淏elow the big three you have companies with turnovers of about鈧�*1bn (拢788m) but there鈥檚 no room for national mid-sized contractors. In the regions you have local champions that survive because owners don鈥檛 want to sell up.鈥�

Francis Ives, chairman of Cyril Sweett, which has made three acquisitions in the past two weeks, was cautious about the involvement of private equity cash in the industry.

He said the consultant considered raising money through private equity as an alternative to flotation on the stock exchange last year. 鈥淧rivate equity is like a big black bear. As long as you feed it, it鈥檚 ok. If not, it will eat you.鈥�