Pension payout creates £2m loss for TE Beach

TE Beach (Contractors) made a £2m loss last year. There was a £2m payment into former managing director David Beach’s pension pot, despite the fact that there was no profit generated by the road surfacing contractor’s £49m turnover.

The group’s latest financial figures cover the 12 months to 31 December 2005. In the previous year, turnover of £33m resulted in a pre-tax loss of £700,000.

Ringway bought TE Beach in January 2005. Both companies are part of Vinci, the pan-European construction group.

David Lee, managing director of Beach, said: “David Beach is the founder’s son. The £2m payment into his pension was part of the acquisition deal.”

Asked if he was disappointed that Beach’s activities hadn’t generated any profit, Lee said: “We didn’t expect it to do any better. We were making changes. It had a spread of contracts, some good and some not so good. We re-bid several of the not-so-good ones and didn’t retain them. We were going back in with sensible figures.”

[Contract Journal, 1 November 2006, p 4]