Consultant expects pre-tax profts of £30.5m following 2,000 redundancies

Mouchel has warned that profits before tax and exceptional items will drop to £30.5m for the year ended 31 July 2010.

In a trading update the consultant said “taking into account the challenging business environment and the likelihood that this environment may harden, the Group has decided to take a more cautious view of the final settlement of a number of current project claims”.

Since January 2009 the firm has reduced its headcount by more than 2,000 and expects to make a one-off cost payment of around £23m to cover this, all of which will be taken as an exceptional charge.

The group’s year-end net bank borrowings stood at £83.5m and the firm is in discussions with its banks on the refinancing of its existing loan facilities.

Preliminary results will be announced on 28 October.

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