Ray O鈥橰ourke, 75 next January, has told the Financial Times that he is looking for someone to take over from him running the company and will then sell up.
鈥淲e will float the company in a few years鈥� time,鈥� he told the newspaper . 鈥淏y 2024 we will be in good shape.鈥�
Irishman Ray O鈥橰ourke started out as a site worker on the construction of the Victoria Line under London in the 1960s. With his younger brother Desmond he set up a contracting business in 1978. In 2001 he took over the failed John Laing Construction business for just 拢1, propelling the O鈥橰ourkes to the top table of UK construction. Ray O鈥橰ourke remains majority owner and is reputedly worth 拢380m, according to a Sunday newspaper 'rich list'.
He stepped aside as chief executive in 2013 after appointing Laing long-server Anna Stewart to the role. She stepped down in December 2015 due to an illness that took her life two years later. To date, she has been the only person that Ray O鈥橰ourke has trusted with running his business.
In his FT interview, Ray O鈥橰ourke said that the company might not do a listing in 鈥渢he traditional way鈥�. He said: 鈥淧eople are now saying the day of the big investment banker putting it together may have to be done differently. There鈥檚 a great opportunity to innovate around this.鈥�
In the year to 31st March 2020, Laing O鈥橰ourke made a pre-tax profit of 拢45.5m (2019: 拢32.7m) on revenue from continuing operations down 11% to 拢2,448.5m (2019: 拢2,753.4m). Four years earlier it has made a loss of nearly 拢220m.
Ray O鈥橰ourke said that UK construction was hampered by rapid rotation of ministers in charge of construction and how long it took to get decisions made.
鈥淒emocracy is a very expensive pastime. If we get rid of some of the red tape then that would be very helpful,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 know China is totally different, but when you look at what they achieve in a short space of time, it takes us twice the time to get to the start point.鈥�
He added: 鈥淚 think if we had a more executive government and we were closer to the fire of industry then that would be helpful.鈥�
A Laing O鈥橰ourke spokesperson subsequently told the Construction Index that it had nothing to add to the FT report but confirmed that Ray O鈥橰ourke had been quoted accurately.
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