黑洞社区

The country鈥檚 biggest private contractor is barely making any progress in improving its average payment time just months after its chairman Ray O鈥橰ourke promised to tackle the issue head on.

Figures the firm published yesterday, which it is required to do under government legislation, show the average time taken to pay its invoices between 1 October 2018 and 31 March 2019 was 52 days 鈥� just one day less than the previous six months.

But the firm said it had not paid 45% of its invoices that were due within the agreed terms 鈥� up from 42% in the first half of its financial year.

It made improvements in payment time in two of the three date range criteria the government uses but its longest standard payment period remained at 91 days.

In percentage terms, the firm鈥檚 improvement on average payment time over the two six month periods is just 1.9%.

The latest figures for the two previous slowest payers among the top 10 contractors and housebuilders showed Balfour Beatty had cut its average payment time by four days to 50 days 鈥� a 7% improvement 鈥� while Kier sliced two days off to 52 days, an improvement of 3.7%.

Laing O鈥橰ourke鈥檚 financial year finished at the end of last month and last October, when its first set of payment results were released, O鈥橰ourke (pictured) pledged: 鈥淲e will focus on improving payments to our supply chain during the next financial year.鈥�

But he said the government needed to step up as well, weeding out inefficient procurement policies, binning outdated 鈥渁dversarial鈥� contracts and 鈥渟ettling its own accounts promptly鈥�.

The news comes just a day after Laing O鈥橰ourke, alongside Balfour Beatty and Interserve, was suspended from the government鈥檚 Prompt Payment Code and will not be allowed back until it pays its suppliers on time.

In its payment practice report the contractor made reference to the suspension, saying it had been 鈥渢emporarily suspended for failing to pay 95% of invoices within 60 days鈥�.

It added: 鈥淭wenty-four out of 25 construction firms by revenue are also failing to meet this target.鈥�

In its financial results for the year to 31 March 2018, its most recent which it finally filed in February more than four months late, the contractor said it 鈥渁spires to pay its supply chain partners in line with the best within the market鈥�.