Dive Brief:
- News has emerged that Britain's Carillion and Balfour Beatty are talking about a possible merger as Balfour contends with more bad news for stockholders as analysts predict a 20% drop in pre-tax profits.
- Meanwhile, Carillion has been on a roll, winning three contracts last week in a partnership with Amey to support the British defense ministry, and its stock was up 10% before news about the merger talks came out.
- Balfour Beatty operates in 80 countries, doing construction and offering engineering and facilities management services, while Carillion has jobs in Britain and Ireland, but not in the rest of Europe, and is in the Middle East, North Africa and Canada.
Dive Insight:
Balfour Beatty has been without a CEO since Andrew McNaughton was fired in May after a year in charge. The company's Parsons Brinckerhoff operation in the U.S. is for sale, too, because its project management operations and Balfour Beatty's construction business did not work out together as hoped.
