Engineering consultant has deferred date for agreeing refinancing deal

Engineering consultant White Young Green has announced a shake-up of its board and bought more time to agree a refinancing deal.

In a trading update this morning, the company said discussions with its lenders were continuing and a covenant test date had been deferred by a month to 31 August.

The company said: “The board expects that a further deferral of the covenant test date is likely to be requested. A further announcement will be made in due course as appropriate.”

The £282m-turnover firm is thought to be in danger of breaching its net debt-to-EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) covenant.

Its debt pile of £91m was amassed during an £85m spending spree during which the firm bought 18 companies in five years.

Meanwhile, it has appointed Mike McTighe as non-executive chairman. He is currently chairman of digital TV company Pace and power cable group Volex.

Graham Olver has joined the board as group services director and company secretary. He was previously commercial and operations director at Skanska Infrastructure Development.

The company described trading in the six months to 4 July as more challenging than the first half of the financial year.

It added: “The board remains cautious about the trading outlook for the current year.”

Topics