Mowlem: no more surprises

Mowlem's new chief executive Simon Vivian has insisted that after making three profit warnings this year, the group will spring "no further surprises", even though the internal reorganisation is months away from completion.
Mowlem's latest financial results showed a loss of £15m, well down on the profit of £45m in the previous year. Turnover inched slightly ahead to £2.1bn (£2bn).
Vivian has had to take a series of drastic steps to avoid being associated with management mess-ups of the past.
"I've looked at both our construction and services divisions and have carried out a full and comprehensive review of each," he said. Accountancy firm KPMG was called in to provide help.
Vivian added: "I've taken the appropriate steps. I've been more prudent. Mowlem is not there at the moment. I have announced an internal reorganisation.
"We had a lot of slightly silo-style profit centres, which made it difficult to function smoothly as a whole. Internal relationships held us back.
"Instead, Mowlem will now run within just four larger business streams. "I'm right in the middle of it all and the second tier of management will be announced shortly. The whole reorganisation will be done by the middle of the year."
One change has resulted in the group's PFI operations being integrated into Mowlem Projects. "Some PFI work was being done by the regions and some was centralised," Vivian said.
"We see ourselves as a mid-sized PFI project company as there is a big risk with large projects that we aren't comfortable with. Looking at PFI in general, we'd like to do more."
Vivian's "more prudent" approach to accrued income and work in progress helped push the group into the red. He has also taken a "more conservative view of values on some contracts".