Problems with the building, informally known as the Cheesegrater because of its shape, have already cost chief executive Tom Haughey his job.
The full cost of the problems now emerges in Severfield-Rowen鈥檚 preliminary results for the 15 month period ended 31 March 2013. On flat revenues of 拢318.3m, the company made an underlying operating loss of 拢19.2m and reported a pre-tax loss of 拢28.9m. This compares to a 拢5.8m pre-tax profit for the year to 31 December 2011.
The financial impact of the Cheesegrater cost overruns required a rights issue, which raised 拢44.8m net, giving the directors confidence that the business is back on a safe footing.
The UK order book stands at 拢197m and contains a mix of London commercial offices, industrial buildings, warehousing, waste to energy and transport projects. The pipeline of future potential projects is also considered to be 鈥渆ncouraging鈥�.
Executive Chairman John Dodds, who took over day-to-day running of the company after Mr Haughey left, said: "The 15 month period to 31 March 2013 has been extremely challenging for the group with problems on its 122 Leadenhall Street contract being the most significant of several contract issues which contributed to the financial loss for the period.
鈥淢anagement and organisational changes have already been made and further changes are in process.聽 Meanwhile the group retains its core strengths, a strong market position and the continued support of its major customers.聽 This, together with the shareholder support for the refinancing completed on 5 April, gives me confidence that the group will improve financial performance in the near term and deliver returns commensurate with its strong market position in the longer term."
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