Skanska keeps furlough millions as it pays dividend

摘要

Skanska UK has confirmed it will not return more than £4m of cash claimed for f urloughed workers, despite paying its parent company £32m to reward private investors.Recently published accounts for the year to 31 December 2020 revealed the firm claimed just ove £4m from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which pays up to 80 per cent of the salary of furloughed staff. The firm also paid £35m in dividends to its UK parent holding company off the back of its 2019 and 2020 results, when the company reported post-tax profits of £10.2m and £20.4m respectively. Of this,£32m was paid on to the ultimate parent company in Sweden, which paid out SEK3.92bn (£330m) in dividends to private investors.Skanska has also claimed up to £350,000 in the first four months of 2021, according to HMRC.Companies have been criticised for holding on to taxpayer-funded support while rewarding private investors, with Lendlease's decision to do so earlierthis year branded "a disgrace" by Labour front-bencher Bill Esterson.