Demolition contractor mulls appeal in wake of cartel-buster’s bid-rigging decision

One of the 10 demolition contractors fined a total of nearly £60m yesterday by the Competition and Markets Authority has gone public and said it is looking to appeal the decision.

Squibb, which was fined £2m, was one of two firms which contested the CMA’s provisional findings last summer.

Most of the contractors fined yesterday have not yet formally commented on the decision – although Keltbray has said it will contest the level of its fine awarded against it which is £16m.

McGee was the only other company to reference the news when it said it considered the “matter concluded” with others choosing to remain silent about the CMA’s announcement which draws a line under a four year investigation.

However, in a strongly worded statement, Squibb said it was “in discussions with its lawyers and other advisers as to its next course of action which could include an appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal”.

It added: “It is disappointing that after four years of investigation, which included reviewing over 10,000 Company tenders and extensive representations by the Company, where we fully cooperated with the CMA (including a root and branch review of our historical compliance practices) that it has been determined that Squibb Group Limited has committed two acts of simple cover pricing.

“In relation to the allegations of cover pricing it is also our understanding that the clients were not disadvantaged, and these two instances are considered to be at the low end of the scale of seriousness in terms of overall economic effect.

“Furthermore, we believe that the proposed fine (which is significantly influenced by a company’s turnover) is disproportionate when seen in the context of the wider investigation and the other infringements discovered as part of the CMA investigation.”

Yesterday, Keltbray also said it considered its fine of £16m to be too high as well. It added: “Keltbray did not instigate any infringement activity or benefit financially from the infringements, and therefore believes the intended penalty is excessive when compared to Keltbray’s level of involvement, particularly when compared to the malpractices of other organisations who did benefit financially from their activities.”

In a note in its 2021 accounts, Keltbray said it had been budgeting for a provision on the case of between £3.9m and £16m.

Between them, Erith, which was fined £17.6m and has so far declined to comment, and Keltbray have been hit with more than half of the £59.3m penalty dished out by the cartel-buster.

Firms have two months to appeal the decision, the CMA said, with the timeframe for them to pay their fines only drawn up once this has elapsed. Under its rules, the CMA can give companies extra time to settle up known as a ‘time to pay agreement’.

The CMA’s findings also revealed that the number of firms involved with making so-called ‘compensation payments’ had gone down from seven to five.

Keltbray, John F Hunt and Clifford Devlin were originally found not to have been involved in making these payments with Squibb and DSM since added to the list.

Three directors were also banned following the probe, the CMA added. David Darsey, a former managing director of Erith and a previous president of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors, has been banned for 5 years and 10 months, Cantillon founder Michael Cantillon has been banned for 7 years and 6 months and Paul Cluskey, since summer 2020 managing director of Cantillon after it was bought by Morrisroe, has been banned for 4 years and 6 months. Cluskey joined Cantillon in 2014 from Mace where he was an operations director.