F+G's US division bounces back

Faithful+Gould has seen an improved performance in the US, according to results released this morning by parent firm Atkins, while its UK operation's perfomance "remained satisfactory".

A statement for te six months to 30 September said the US division was buoyed by the pharmaceutical, oil and gas and property markets. It added that prospects for the management and project services segment of the business, which F+G fall within, were positive. The division saw a slight drop in operating profit, from £5.7m to £5.6m for the period, while turnover grew by £10m to £93.6m. The profit drop was due to costs of acquiring management consultancy Mantix.

Overall Atkins was hit by a poor performance from the contract it shares with contractor Balfour Beatty as part of the Metronet consortium to upgrade part of the tube network.

The statement said: "Metronet Enterprise continues to impact the Group's results and has contributed a £1.4m reduction in profit before tax compared to the same period last year. The conclusion in the Arbiter's recent report that Metronet was not performing in an economic and efficient manner, was as expected. Whilst some improvements have been made, much still remains to be done to enable Metronet to achieve its goal of being economic and efficient overall at the end of the first review period in September 2010. "