WYG slips into operating loss

Consultant WYG has slipped into the red posting an operating loss of £3.5m in the year to 31 March 2012, before accounting for exceptional items.

This compares with a profit of £0.1m in the nine months to 31 March 2011. The company said the depressed construction market in the UK had made trading challenging but that it had maintained a focus on its core markets of defence, justice, urban and commercial development.

However, the firm’s results for the second half of the year showed significant improvement with a loss of £1m compared with £2.5m in the first half of the year. When accounting for the effects of the firm’s financial restructure in July 2011, the company made an operating profit of £14.2m, with the debt for equity deal allowing it to post a £49.6m accounting credit.

However, the restructuring exercise also cost it £9.4m in redundancies, office closures and associated costs last year on top of a £14.8m goodwill impairment and the financial cost of the deal. In total the deal resulted in a £14.2m boost to the accounts.

Paul Hamer, chief executive of WYG, said: “Going forward, the group’s focus now shifts from internal improvements to creating quality top line growth through the delivery of our global integrated strategy.  Against this backdrop, the board is confident of returning the group to an operating profit in the near term.”