First Carillion, now Interserve

[JohnD]

Hooray for outsourcing! Solving the nation's problems by hiving off public services to private companies!


https://www.ft.com/content/66fbadd2-e72d-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3

"Like Carillion, the UK government contractor that went bust in January, Interserve is a construction company that made bumper profits maintaining schools and hospitals under PFI schemes, before moving into public services following the financial crash. It has been plunged into difficulty by a series of ill-timed acquisitions and by expanding into probation, healthcare and waste-to-energy contracts, areas in which it had no experience.

“Interserve seems to be on a downward spiral,” says Stephen Rawlinson, an independent analyst. “Suppliers and subcontractors are increasingly refusing to work for the company and that is leading customers and funders to question their support.” Interserve paid only 17 per cent of its invoices on agreed terms in the six months to 30 July 2018, according to Build UK, the industry lobby group. The contractor also took an average of 50 days to pay its suppliers."

 

[Brigadier]

Safe havens for the overpaid, the inept, and those who are both.
No wonder the chickens eventually come home to roost.

 

[SirGalahad]

It's a gravy train for the accountants, lawyers, management consultants.

Perhaps the Idiotic government ideology that anything can be outsourced should read some of Coase work on the theory of the firm.

 

[ellal]

All this privatisation b ollox...

I blame it on the EU

 

[KenGMac]

I was unfortunately required to work with Carillion, they somehow managed to get a contract undertaking insurance repair work.

Every time I went to the office [in Glasgow] the main entrance was impressive, a well appointed affair, the reception desk had two things, a receptionist and a very bold display.

The display indicated the SHARE PRICE for the Company as of 0900 that morning???

Nice to see a "Building + Construction firm" with a Heart??

Ken

 

[Brigadier]

All this privatisation b ollox...

I blame it on the EU

Very true.

 

[Bodd]

Hooray for outsourcing! Solving the nation's problems by hiving off public services to private companies!



https://www.ft.com/content/66fbadd2-e72d-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3

"Like Carillion, the UK government contractor that went bust in January, Interserve is a construction company that made bumper profits maintaining schools and hospitals under PFI schemes, before moving into public services following the financial crash. It has been plunged into difficulty by a series of ill-timed acquisitions and by expanding into probation, healthcare and waste-to-energy contracts, areas in which it had no experience.

“Interserve seems to be on a downward spiral,” says Stephen Rawlinson, an independent analyst. “Suppliers and subcontractors are increasingly refusing to work for the company and that is leading customers and funders to question their support.” Interserve paid only 17 per cent of its invoices on agreed terms in the six months to 30 July 2018, according to Build UK, the industry lobby group. The contractor also took an average of 50 days to pay its suppliers."

I said this would happen. All these top suits at the top of these big company's filling their pockets before quality or safety at work..
Not one of them know one end of a hammer to the other.

Tip of the iceburg

 

[Ian H]

We sub for them doing the drains at Home Office places mainly probation and immigration properties.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

All this privatisation b ollox...

I blame it on the EU

Very true.

So are these same things happening in all the other EU countries?

 

[SirGalahad]

I believe Brig was being sarcastic and agreeing with a fond trope of Brexiteers that you can blame it on the EU.

Burnt toast in the morning? Blame the EU for making us eat bread that can be burned.

 

[ellal]

So are these same things happening in all the other EU countries?

Funnily enough the IMF (an energetic proponent of privatisation in return for bailing out countries) has said that the UK model is (in vernacular terms) 'totally f ucked'...

Linky

"Britain’s underlying public finances are among the worst in the world, behind the Gambia, Uganda and Kenya, a new study has concluded.....

The IMF looked at the assets and liabilities of 31 countries and found the UK was in a worse position than every other country apart from Portugal...

The UK has undergone one of the most drastic privatisations of any economy since the early 1980s.

Under the Conservative government since 2015, policy has gone a stage further, incentivising departments and local authorities to sell off assets to fund day-to-day spending under the premise that such an approach is necessary to cut the deficit.

But the IMF economists said the tendency of governments to focus on debt “misses large swaths of government activity and can fall victim to illusory fiscal practices”.

When public assets are taken into account, selling a public utility, for example, may do nothing to improve the public finances, the IMF said.

“For instance, privatisations increase revenue and lower deficits but also reduce the government’s asset holdings,” the report stated.

“Similarly, cutting back maintenance expenditure reduces the deficit and lowers debt, but also reduces the value of infrastructure assets, which could cost more in the long term.”

 

[durhamplumber]

I believe Brig was being sarcastic and agreeing with a fond trope of Brexiteers that you can blame it on the EU.

Burnt toast in the morning? Blame the EU for making us eat bread that can be burned.

Makes a change from remoaners blaming brexit

 

[securespark]

Burnt toast in the morning? Blame the EU for making us eat bread that can be burned.

I thought they'd cracked that one.

Seriously!

Didn't the EU bring in changes that reduced the maximum power consumption of toasters?

 

[SirGalahad]

I thought they'd cracked that one.

Seriously!

Didn't the EU bring in changes that reduced the maximum power consumption of toasters?

Nope, another myth.

https://blogs.ec.europa.eu/ECintheU...nd-kettles-and-could-not-decide-alone-anyway/

In a long line of myths. Our papers do love pushing BS.

https://blogs.ec.europa.eu/ECintheUK/euromyths-a-z-index/

Decades of anti EU propaganda has done the trick. Blaming the EU for floods in the UK because of dredging regulations - the Telegraph has no standards anymore.

 

[JohnD]

"Five British banks and brokers lost millions of pounds after they were saddled with Kier shares following a failed emergency fundraising for the construction and support services group.

Kier said on Thursday that only 38 per cent of investors had taken up the call to bolster the business through a rights issue, though it emphasised it had secured the £250m it needed as the 64.5m new shares had been fully underwritten."

https://www.ft.com/content/10643dde-0426-11e9-99df-6183d3002ee1