黑洞社区

Rival contractors say they expect to see a flood of CVs from Kier staff in the coming days after the firm yesterday said it was getting rid of 1,200 people in a drastic cost-cutting programme.

New chief executive Andrew Davies shocked peers when he said 650 staff would be gone by the end of this month.

A rival Tier One chief executive said: 鈥淚t might be necessary but it鈥檚 the message it sends. With that sort of speed, everyone will feel in jeopardy. We go up against them all the time so I鈥檓 sure we鈥檒l be seeing a lot of CVs come in over the next few days鈥�

But he added: 鈥淸The firm] needs leadership, a strong chin, nerve and a bit of fortune. They need to stick to what they鈥檙e good at which is building and civil engineering.鈥�

A further 550 staff are due to go by the middle of next year under a plan which will see the firm make inroads into its near 拢800m wage bill. The cuts mean that more than 5% of the 20,000 people it employed last year 鈥� more than 18,000 are based in the UK 鈥� will be gone in 12 months.

Another rival added: 鈥淲ith an organisation that鈥檚 contracting, what happens to all the talent? All the good people will be speaking to recruitment firms.鈥�

Some Kier staff took to social media to take issue with the firm being bracketed with Carillion 鈥� which went bust at the beginning of last year.

One said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not helpful when you read posts saying Kier are the next Carillon, or comments berating the business saying 鈥榠t鈥檚 deserved鈥� etc鈥�.please remember livelihoods are at risk and not everyone will be lucky enough to walk away with a pocketful of money.鈥�

Another added: 鈥淣ormally, cost cutting measures and selling off non-core businesses would see confidence grow [yet] it always looks like we can鈥檛 do right for doing wrong since the demise of Carillion.鈥�

Kier鈥檚 share price sank to a new low yesterday and another chief executive told 黑洞社区: 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 look good, I鈥檓 not sure how they dig themselves out of this unless they have some golden opportunities for years to come.鈥�

Kier said the redundancy programme will cost it 拢56m and is set to produce savings of 拢55m a year from 2021.

But a number of firms contacted by 黑洞社区 said they expected Davies (pictured) to be announcing further cost-cutting plans in the coming months.

鈥淚 think there is more to come,鈥� one said. 鈥淚鈥檇 be horrified if they left the industry. It鈥檚 a national brand but there鈥檚 got to be a chance they will go.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭here鈥檚 quite a few in the top 10 [of firms] that have just become so complicated and lacking in focus that, therefore, they鈥檙e in jeopardy. They don鈥檛 understand the sorts of businesses they鈥檙e engaging in.鈥�

Kier has hoisted the for sale sign over its residential business, Kier Living, while it said it is looking for buyers for its property, FM and environmental services arms.

Getting rid of residential and property will take nearly 拢600m out of the business which last year posted a 拢4.5bn turnover. The firm does not break out the incomes for its FM and environmental services arms which are part of its wider 拢1.8bn services business.

Davies, who started at Kier in the middle of April, was forced to bring forward the announcement detailing the findings of his strategic review 鈥� originally scheduled for the end of July 鈥� after the markets became spooked about the scale of the problems he would uncover.

Its share price has been steadily heading south over recent weeks and the price closed last night at 107p 鈥� down nearly 23% from Friday鈥檚 close.

Kier鈥檚 stock traded for 988p on 18 June last year and was still worth 278p at the end of last month despite a rights issue in December.