Balfour ponders Chunnel œ20m

Balfour Beatty is to hold its œ20 million provisions against the Channel Tunnel contract until the end of the year. Only then will it finalise whether it made a profit or loss on the project.

Henderson, finance director of Balfour's parent company BICC, said at last week's results: 'In any major project a lot of things are not resolved until after the work is complete. However, the debate with Eurotunnel is mostly over - that was a major uncertainty hanging over TML.

'We are being cautious. The outstanding task is mostly checking that sub-contractor conditions have been put to bed. We want to see the whole system up and running, with warranties checked,' he added.

Balfour contributed œ16 million (œ17 million) to BICC's overall operating profit of œ80 million from a turnover down 9% to œ826 million.

Sir Robin Biggam, BICC chairman, commented: 'The completion of the Channel Tunnel project and our caution in tendering for highly competitive contracts during 1993 were reflected in lower sales for the period.'

With more firms chasing international work, Balfour has found that margins both at home and overseas have been equally tight.

Approximately three-quarters of Balfour's work comes from heavy civil and power contracting where the order book remains satisfactory.

Balfour has received a letter of intent for a œ103 million contract, shared equally with an Indonesian partner, to do civil works for the 980MW Muara Tawar power station in Indonesia.