Costain - company profile
11:03 04 Apr 2008
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An overview of international engineering and construction group Costain, including: information about Costain’s operations; latest news about Costain; and the latest Costain share price.
Costain quick links
Latest Costain news
- Costain board reshuffle aims to add focus
- Costain unveils record £2bn orderbook
- Balfour, Skanska, Costain and Laing O'Rourke take Thameslink contracts
- Costain - company profile
- Costain reports £20m profit on turnover of £880m
Costain overview
Costain’s history dates back to 1865 when Richard Costain founded the original construction business in Liverpool. The company floated as a public company in 1933 with a share capital of £600,000. In 1971 it became the first UK to win the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement.
Its project portfolio includes the infamous Newbury Bypass, the Thames Barrier, The Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the studios for Channel 4’s Big Breakfast programme.
In its list of ‘101 Things About Costain’ the company boasts that in 1988 it proposed schemes for double-decking the M25 and driving a tunnel under the Thames from Chiswick to Tower Bridge.
Costain endured a turbulent 1990s, losing £450m between 1990 and 1995. In 1996 its shares were suspended by the London Stock Exchange and things continued to get worse with the announcement that the group lost £380m between 1994 and 1996.
However, under a new rationalisation strategy and a refinancing deal by chief executives John Armitt, and more recently Stuart Doughty, Costain has battled back to become a major player in its fields of expertise.
In its annual results for the year to 31 December 2007, Costain, now headed by chief executive Andrew Wyllie (pictured), reported a pre-tax profit of £20m.
Costain was ranked 20th in the 2007 Contract Journal Construction Top 100 and 23rd in the 2007 CJ50 league table, which measures forward order books.
Costain operations
Costain has set out a strategy over the next three years to achieve double digit growth in profit and turnover by ‘Being Number One’ in all nine of the sectors it works in.
These are:
- Education
- Water
- Highways
- Rail
- Nuclear
- Health
- Marine
- Oil, gas and process
- Retail