Pre-tax profit at Wembley M&E contractor Phoenix Electrical fell 60% in 2006, its penultimate year on the stadium, according to figures published this week.

Accounts for the year to 31 March 2006 show that profit dropped to £251,000 from £642,000 in 2005. The firm said in a statement that it expected to take a second hit in the year to March 2007, its final year at Wembley.

The accounts confirm the scale of the financial difficulties faced by Phoenix while on the project. Multiplex gave Phoenix cost and time concessions to bail it out after rising costs put it in jeopardy. In May 2006 the company was so beset by problems that it could not pay Beaver Management Systems (BMS), a labour agency.

Phoenix has since been bought by Peter Elsom, a businessman with a good relationship with BMS, which settled issues between the two firms. In a statement accompanying the accounts, Phoenix said: “With new management and a committed and supportive parent we expect Phoenix Electrical to perform well in the future.”

Phoenix is one of a host of subcontractors to have suffered financially as a result of work on Wembley, which last weekend hosted its first FA Cup final a year later than planned.

Topics