Profits blow for Wembley contractor Multiplex

Australian contractor Multiplex has reiterated that the new £757m Wembley Stadium will be ready in time to stage the FA Cup final next May.

Multiplex, who announced its annual results today (Thursday), stress that it is on target for a March hand over.

Multiplex has confirmed that it will make a loss on the project having assigned a further £3.6m after-tax general contingency against potential future risks in the development. But it foresees no problems in the completion stages.

The Australian firm reported that the main structure is now complete with construction of the roof "well underway".

All other aspects are either on time or ahead of schedule, it announced, although variables such as poor weather and steel cost could yet have an impact.

Multiplex shares have fallen 40% this year, with the Wembley project taking the greatest toll of all its projects.

Pre-tax profit figures of £62.3m were down on expectations despite all other operations within the group generally performing well during the year.

Multiplex chief executive Andrew Roberts said: "This result is very disappointing and has been significantly impacted by the substantial losses experienced at Wembley National Stadium.

"Progress since the introduction of an accelerated works programme has been encouraging and we remain on programme to hand over at the end of March 2006."

The problems at Wembley also resulted in the resignation earlier this year of Multiplex's founder and executive chairman John Roberts.