Saturday 18 March 2017

Blacklister Balfour Beatty Slogan: 'Build to Last'

Confronting Trump & 'Lucrative Eyesores' in Future Pricing
AS environmental and other campaigners tool-up for action against the potential landscape contracts that the accused blacklist company Balfour Beatty are eyeing up, those who calculate the political risks in pricing projects will have to have their wits about them, but Donald Trump's proposed infrastructure projects may help.
This at least is the view of Matthew Vincent's Lombard column in the Financial Times yesterday.  He writes that:  'Balfour Beatty will either have to price that risk perfectly -or leave it with customers.'  And he adds:  'Neither task, as pollsters will attest, will be easy.'
It seems that among the potential 'landmark contracts' deemed to be landscape blots by political campaigners are, according to Mr. Vincent, include 'the HS2 rail link, the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, and a potash mine on the North York Moors national park.'
Interestingly, it seems, that these days Balfour makes nearly half of its revenue from the USA, and has even been linked - erroneously, it claims - with the woeful concept which is President Trump's Mexican border wall.
Meanwhile, on the same page of the same issue of FT,  Gill Plimmer in an article titled 'Balfour Beatty ready to seize Trump chances' writes:
'Balfour Beatty has returned to profit after a torrid two years and is poised to take advantage of Donald Trump's plege to boost infrastructure spending.'
But for shareholders at least the fascination of Balfour's in all those lucrative eyesores has brought about a much needed return to 'disciplined bidding and risk pricing'.
In Britain, Balfours generates £1.9bn in construction revenues, including work building London's Crossrail train  facility.

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