Recent traumas at Amec have captivated observers in the City and the construction industry, with rumour and counter-rumour spreading as to which parts of the business will be sold off, and who will buy them. To outsiders, Amec was seen as an unwieldy business, with a net debt so high - an average of pound;450m in 2004 - that one leading analyst suggested that it was in danger of breaching its banking covenants. Now the company's board has acknowledged the need to restructure the business, a realisation prompted in part by a pound;70m hit on key contracts. A fortnight ago they hung a "for sale" sign on Spie, a French-based services business and the group's main profit generator. They then proposed splitting the remainder of the company into two quoted businesses, one focused on UK infrastructure-essentially a construction business merged with design, facilities management and investment arms - and the other on energy and process industries.
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