Carillion plc offloads shareholding in Manchester developer for £13.8m

Construction services giant Carillion plc has sold off its multi-million pound stake in Manchester-based Ask Real Estate Limited (AREL).

Having invested in the property developer in January last year, Carillion today (October 31) announced the sale of its 66.67% shareholding in AREL to Dukehill Limited along with its 50% interest in Ask Carillion Developments LLP (ACD).

The deal was completed for £13.8m in cash, with a further £1m to be paid by Dukehill contingent on the sale of 100 Embankment.

AREL and ACD deliver commercial property developments in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and throughout the North.

In the year to December 31 2016, the interests being sold contributed pre-tax profits of £11.6m – a figure that Carillion said can “vary significantly” from year to year. The interests were not forecast to make a material contribution to Carillion’s overall group profit for 2017.

Keith Cochrane, interim chief executive at Carillion, said of the transaction: “We are pleased to be able to announce further progress.

“Much remains to be done, and we are continuing to execute our plans to refocus the business, reduce cost and strengthen our balance sheet.”

Dukehill Limited is owned by the Richardson family of entrepreneurs.

Commenting on the sale of the majority stake to Richardson’s, Ask Real Estate MD John Hughes said: Richardson’s investment into Ask Real Estate is a huge vote of confidence in the business putting us in a strong position to continue to grow our mixed-use portfolio, and deliver our business plan.“

Richardson’s head of real estate, Mark Morgan, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the Ask team to help bring to fruition their exciting development program and to support them in new ventures.”

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