Pochin plans concrete pumping division sale

Contractor and developer Pochin is concluding plans to sell its loss-making concrete pumping business, it has been reported.

The company first revealed that it was having problems with the division in its half-year results for the six months to December. Its statement to the Stock Exchange read: “The decision to dispose of the loss making concrete pumping business was announced with the results for the year ending 31 May 2011.”

It added that the section's activities are now discontinued, but that it had benefited from a reasonably mild winter, improved cost control and operation efficiencies. These factors combined resulted in the containment of the ongoing losses, albeit with additional provision made for costs of disposal.

In the six months to the end of 30 November 2011, the firm as a whole managed to achieve a profit after tax of £485,000; a significant improvement on the £27,000 recorded in 2010. However, its 2011 loss from discontinued activities of £817,000 resulted in an overall loss for the period of £332,000, Place North West reported. There is no interim dividend proposed at the moment.