Following a review of all buildings over 11 metres tall developed by the company over the last 30 years, Watkin Jones has recognised an exceptional charge of 拢28m for the potential costs of the remediation work required, which is expected to be incurred over seven years. The cost estimate assumes no future recoveries from sub-contractors or consultants.
However, the company still does not know exactly what work will be required, chief executive Richard Simpson said.
This is in addition to the 拢15m cladding provision set aside in 2020 which was to cover the remediation of all schemes with aluminium composite material (ACM) or high pressure laminate (HPL) cladding that were still within the original limitation period.
The 拢28m exceptional charge cancelled out the company鈥檚 profits for the first half of the financial year. Watkin Jones results for the six months to 31 March 2022 show revenue up 8.2% to 拢193.0m (2021 H1: 拢178.4m) but it made a pre-tax loss of 拢16.6m (2021 H1: 拢25.8m profit). The underlying pre-tax profit was 拢11.4m for the period.
Chief executive Richard Simpson remained positive, saying: 鈥淥ur pro-active management of build costs and sales values has ensured that our overall development margins are maintained, and we are confident going into the second half."
He also revealed that the company is getting a new name 鈥渢o better reflect today's broader business,鈥� but that will only be revealed 鈥渋n due course鈥�.
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