Giant housing contractor Kier has announced a £245m annual loss after enduring “a difficult year” which saw its revenues fall and significant losses on a number of its contracts.

The firm completes repairs and maintenance work for landlords across the social housing sector. Its losses for the year to 30 June 2019 compare with profits of £106m in the previous year. Overall its revenue fell three per cent to £4.12bn.

Although the company reported an “increased demand” for fire safety work in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, it reported that its housing maintenance arm had been hit by councils taking work back in-house.

Kier is selling its housebuilding arm and is also looking to offload its facilities management business and environmental services arms to concentrate on construction and civil engineering.

Chief executive Andrew Davies, said: “Kier experienced a difficult year, resulting in a disappointing financial performance. However, we are building firm foundations for the future: we have a new management team in place, we have defined our strategic priorities and we are taking decisive actions to deliver them.”

Kier also announced that its chairman, Philip Cox, will step down once a replacement has been found.

By Patrick Mooney, Editor