Interserve - the next Carillion?



Wish they would hand back the prison estates contract, set of wankers running that.


Hadn’t seen that, bet they’re well fucked off.

Quotes from the Coltrane rep sum up what an utter arsehole he is anyway, when asked how he voted in the EGM he said "I voted for Trump". They made millions off the collapse of Carillion, nice to see them get burned.
 
How do these companies even come to be providing services to the state? They all seem to be experts in everything.

Healthcare, construction, admin, school dinners

Do they just say they’ll do it cheap as owt and do a shit job?
I work in FM. What you've said above is a part of the problem, I.e. trying to diversify too much on too big a scale. Generally contracts are profitable but when you get these large government contracts they almost always procure at the lowest priced tender, info provided at bid stage is usually poor and they inevitably turn to shit and become a commercial battle. I worked on a re tender for a contract year before last which was worth in the region of £50m pa and the business I worked for at the time were losing around £7m a year on the initial contract.
 
I work in FM. What you've said above is a part of the problem, I.e. trying to diversify too much on too big a scale. Generally contracts are profitable but when you get these large government contracts they almost always procure at the lowest priced tender, info provided at bid stage is usually poor and they inevitably turn to shit and become a commercial battle. I worked on a re tender for a contract year before last which was worth in the region of £50m pa and the business I worked for at the time were losing around £7m a year on the initial contract.

Kier?
 
I work in FM. What you've said above is a part of the problem, I.e. trying to diversify too much on too big a scale. Generally contracts are profitable but when you get these large government contracts they almost always procure at the lowest priced tender, info provided at bid stage is usually poor and they inevitably turn to shit and become a commercial battle. I worked on a re tender for a contract year before last which was worth in the region of £50m pa and the business I worked for at the time were losing around £7m a year on the initial contract.
Carillion were operating on about a 1% profit margin weren’t they? You have a fuck up on a big contract and the margin can be wiped out quite easily. Scary some of the figures you read.
 
The move towards customers tendering fixed price, output spec contracts with incomplete info at tender stage is a very high risk for suppliers
Like another poster has said once awarded the commercial scrum ensues and the contract is dusted off

In theory outsourcing is still a good idea, specialists bringing economies of scale and innovation to the customer, admittedly with some potential hazards
 
Carillion were operating on about a 1% profit margin weren’t they? You have a fuck up on a big contract and the margin can be wiped out quite easily. Scary some of the figures you read.
There was a dispatches programme which exposed their business model, effectively they would win a shit load of work at a shite margin and cover up any inevitable losses through continuous acquisitions. It's no wonder Balfour Beatty ran a mile from the 'merger' that was mooted a few years ago.

No i didnt work for them mate, their debt looks different to Carillion and even interserve. I'd say they're more like a small scale Mitie and would expect them to pull their shit together through tightening their belts a bit.
 
Last edited:
There was a dispatches programme which exposed their business model, effectively they would win a shit load of work at a shite margin and cover up any inevitable losses through continuous acquisitions. It's no wonder Balfour Beatty ran a mile from the 'merger' that was mooted a few years ago.


No i didnt work for them mate, their debt looks different to Carillion and even interserve. I'd say they're more like a small scale Mitie and would expect them to pull their shit together through tightening their belts a bit.

It's basically this. I work in M&A and speaking to the team at a huge outsourcer about acquisitions and any particular sectors they were looking at as part of their strategy and their answer was along the lines of 'bring us more or less anything' (within reason, thankfully), and operationally they would try and make it work post-transaction as best as possible. It was utter f***ing madness.
 
It's basically this. I work in M&A and speaking to the team at a huge outsourcer about acquisitions and any particular sectors they were looking at as part of their strategy and their answer was along the lines of 'bring us more or less anything' (within reason, thankfully), and operationally they would try and make it work post-transaction as best as possible. It was utter f***ing madness.

By getting all the subbies in an telling them that they had to discount the prices they'd submitted at the tender stage?
 

Back
Top