Plastic pipe group says Carillion collapse hitting new work

Polypipe index

Polypipe has warned its commercial and infrastructure arm could be hit by project start delays in the coming year, as well as a knock-on effect of the collapse of Carillion in January.

Announcing a record year for the plastic pipe manufacturer, in which turnover for the 12 months to December 2017 rose by 6% to 拢411.7m and pre-tax profit was up 8% at 拢65.7m, the firm said overall conditions in the project pipeline for UK commercial and infrastructure sectors and demand from key road projects such as the A14 road upgrade in Cambridgeshire 鈥渟hould gather pace this year鈥�.

But it warned there was 鈥渆vidence that project starts continue to be delayed, impacting performance in our Commercial and Infrastructure Systems segment in the early part of the year.

鈥淭he news of Carillion鈥檚 demise in January may potentially lead to further project delays as main contracts are renegotiated and the impact on sub-contractors works through the market,鈥� it added.

Newly-appointed chief executive Martin Payne said the beginning of 2018 had started ahead of the same period last year and while forecasts were predicting a broadly flat construction market Polypipe had 鈥渁 strong track record of outperforming the market鈥�.

He added: 鈥淲hile the UK RMI market is likely to remain tough throughout the coming year, the strength of the UK new housebuild sector will continue to drive demand.鈥�