According to new data obtained by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and the electrotechnical and engineering services trade body ECA, many companies are facing huge financial losses from the collapse of the construction giant.
BESA says the overall losses are likely to be far higher, given there are thousands of businesses operating in the industry. The engineering services sector is the largest part of the construction industry by value.
The ECA and BESA survey of its member businesses last week received nearly 140 responses. Of those, around 80 were suppliers to Carillion. £47.2m of ongoing Carillion contracts are also now at risk.
Other worrying stats revealed in the survey are:
• Businesses with less than 10 employees are owed on average £98,000. One of these SMEs is owed over £250,000.
• Small firms (10-49 employees) are owed £141,000 on average. One of these contractors is owed £800,000 by Carillion.
• Medium-sized businesses (50-249 employees) are owed on average £236,000. One of these firms is owed almost £1.4m.
“We knew the fall-out from this seismic episode would be extremely serious, but these figures give us a clearer picture of just how hard our sector is going to hit in terms of the thousands of pounds of unsecured debt that will be lost by ordinary hard working small businesses, jeopardising their future and the future of their staff”, said BESA president Tim Hopkinson.
