Firm sees swing of more than 拢300m on is bottom line in first half

Restructuring costs and losses from non-core businesses sent Lendlease tumbling into the red for the first six months of the year.

The firm said it racked up a pre-tax loss of A$390m (拢206m) for the half year to December 2021 from a pre-tax profit of A$234m (拢124m) last time.

lendlease

Revenue from its Europe business, which is mainly the UK, was 拢265m during the period

Revenue, which was hit by a 29% fall in workloads in the US because of covid-19 restrictions, was down 8% to A$4.1bn (拢2.2bn).

Overall construction revenue was down 6% to A$3.2bn (拢1.7bn). It said new work was down by nearly half during the period from A$4.6bn (拢2.4bn) to A$2.4bn (拢1.3bn) as the firm felt the brunt of the impact of the pandemic.

Income from its Europe business, which is mainly the UK, along with a handful of jobs in Italy, was $500m (拢265m). Its backlog of work in the region was $900m (拢476m).

The firm, which is working on the 8 Bishopsgate tower in the City of London as well as revamping Manchester Town Hall, said it expected to save more than A$160m (拢85m) per year in operating costs from its restructuring initiative.

Lendlease said productivity at its construction business is expected to increase in the second half as global covid restrictions ease. The firm has an A$11bn (拢5.8bn) order book and is currently working on 105 projects across the world.