Last checked at 17 Nov 2017 07:02
17 November 2017
Update on discussions with stakeholders, trading and financial covenants deferral
Carillion plc ("Carillion" or "the Group") today provides an update on discussions with its financial stakeholders, trading and its intention to seek to defer the testing of its financial covenants.
Since July, the Group has been focused on reducing costs, collecting cash, executing its disposals programme and implementing its new operating model. These self-help measures will serve to reduce the Group's average net debt over time, but they will not be sufficient to enable the Group to achieve its target net debt to EBITDA ratio of between 1.0 to 1.5 times by the end of 2018. The Board is therefore in discussions with stakeholders regarding a broad range of options to further reduce net debt and repair and strengthen the Group's balance sheet. This will require some form of recapitalisation, which could involve a restructuring of the balance sheet. The Board expects to commence steps to implement the chosen option during the first quarter of 2018 and a further announcement will be made in due course.
In its interim results on 29 September 2017, Carillion confirmed that it was forecast to be in compliance with its financial covenants as at 31 December 2017. As then indicated, compliance with its financial covenants was dependent on achieving its underlying forecasts, which assume that the normal pattern of receipts and payments continue alongside the completion of a number of PPP disposals and settlement receipts on contracts.
The Board has kept under continuous review the risk that receipts from contract claims and/or disposals forecast to be received during November and December 2017 might slip beyond 31 December 2017. The Group now expects that a combination of delays to certain PPP disposals, a slippage in the commencement date of a significant project in the Middle East and lower than expected margin improvements across a small number of UK Support Services contracts, partially offset by cost savings initiatives realised in the fourth quarter, will lead to profits for the year to 31 December 2017 being materially lower than current market expectations. Given the impact of delays in receipts and disposals, the Group now expects full year average net borrowing in 2017 to be between £875m and £925m.
Based on its latest forecasts, reflecting the items mentioned above, the Board now expects a covenant breach as at 31 December 2017. Following discussions with its principal lenders and with their support, the Board has concluded that it is necessary to amend the relevant agreements to defer the test date for both its financial covenants from 31 December 2017 to 30 April 2018 (based on EBITDA for the 12 months to that date), by which time it expects to be implementing its recapitalisation plan. Carillion has now commenced a process to seek the consents necessary to make this amendment.
Commenting, Interim Chief Executive, Keith Cochrane said:
"Whilst we continue to target cash collections, reduce costs, execute disposals and focus on delivering for our customers, it is clear that significant challenges remain and more needs to be done to reduce net debt and rebuild the balance sheet. Constructive dialogue is continuing with our financial stakeholders, and I am grateful for their support. I remain focused on addressing this issue before my successor, Andrew Davies, takes up the role on 2 April 2018."
This and other Carillion news releases can be found at www.carillionplc.com.
For more information
Kellie McAvoy, Head of Investor Relations, or,
John Denning, Director Group Corporate Affairs, Carillion plc +44 (0) 1902 906333
Teneo Blue Rubicon
Fraser Hardie/Charles Armitstead/Haya Herbert-Burns +44 (0) 207 420 3197
Notes to editors
Financial covenants
Certain of Carillion's financing arrangements contain financial covenants that leverage (net debt / EBITDA) will be no more than 3.5 times and that interest cover (trading cashflow / net interest pre-IAS 19 charges) will be not less than 3.5 times.
Financing arrangements
The relevant financing arrangements are Carillion's senior additional funding facilities, syndicated revolving credit facility, private placement notes, Schuldschein loans, committed bonding lines and committed bilateral facilities.