The new chief executive of struggling Dutch contractor Royal Bam Group has said "painful" layoffs were coming in response to lower revenues caused by Covid-19 and selective tendering.
The group aims to save €100m a year, mostly by shedding staff, it said today.Â
The restructuring will happen in the next six months amid discussions with works councils and trades unions, it said.
In July, Bam said it had suffered losses of between €130-150m before tax in the first half of 2020 owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
It also said it would shut its loss-making international construction unit, Bam International.
"Given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the disappointing results over the first half year, we are taking decisive action to structurally improve our profitability," said Ruud Joosten, who took over as chief executive on 1 September.
"Although this is a painful decision for employees concerned, it is a necessary step in order to improve Bam’s financial performance.Â
"At the same time, we are defining our new strategic agenda in order to create more value for our shareholders and solid prospects for all our stakeholders, including our employees."
Bam will publish a trading update for the first nine months of 2020 on 5 November.
Photograph: Bam finished building Rotterdam’s Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the first public art depot in the world, on 24 September 2020 (Photograph by Ossip van Duivenbode for Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen)
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