Morgan Sindall Group Regulatory News (MGNS)

22 Sep 2009 09:46



Morgan Sindall plc

22 September 2009

OFT Announcement

Morgan Sindall plc ("the Company") notes today's announcement by the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") that it has issued its decision in connection with its wide scale investigation into alleged infringements of UK Competition law in the construction sector.

The Company can confirm that one of its subsidiaries, Morgan Ashurst plc (formerly called Bluestone plc) has been named as one of the 103 companies found to have infringed Competition law by engaging in cover pricing in respect of three tenders that occurred between 2004 and 2006. The Company was not alleged or found to have made or received any compensatory payments in relation to the cover pricing.

The Company has received a fine of £286,593, which takes into account the reduction granted by the OFT for the cooperation given to the investigation by Morgan Ashurst under the OFT's leniency policy.

The Company is fully committed to meeting its Competition law obligations and is confident that it has robust policies and processes in place to ensure compliance throughout the Group. Since the OFT's investigation was launched, the Company has carried out a comprehensive review of the Group's approach and has strengthened policies and procedures in this area, which it will keep under regular review.

ENDS

Editor's notes:

Cover pricing was the practice of giving to competitors, or receiving from competitors, a cover price, which was then submitted in response to a tender process, with the aim of losing the tender. One reason for seeking a cover price was that a company was unable to price, or carry out a contract properly due to a lack of resources, but nevertheless wished to submit a bid in order to ensure that it was invited to participate in future tenders.