Cabinet secretary labels firm鈥檚 operational performance 鈥減ositive鈥

Carillion

The government has confirmed it has contingency plans in place should under-siege Carillion collapse.

Cabinet office parliamentary secretary Oliver Dowden told parliament today that 鈥渨e of course make contingency plans for all eventualities鈥.

In response to Labour MP Jon Trickett鈥檚 question regarding the possible failure of the stricken contractor, he continued: 鈥淐arillion, as members will know, is a major supplier to the government, with a number of long-term contracts.

鈥淲e are committed to maintaining a healthy supplier market and working closely with our key suppliers.鈥 He also told parliament that 鈥淐arillion鈥檚 operational performance has continued to be positive鈥.

In his question, Trickett also raised concerns that if Carillion collapsed 鈥渋t would risk massive damage to a range of public services鈥. 

Despite being questioned about how much a collapse of Carillion would cost taxpayers, Dowden failed to provide specifics about any plans.

The news comes on the day the country鈥檚 second biggest builder was due to meet lenders about a rescue package, with speculation growing it will have a recovery plan in place by the time new chief executive Andrew Davies joins the business on 22 January.

It is battling a number of issues 鈥 including the admission that year-end debt for 2017 would likely top 拢900m.

Yesterday, the firm said it did not know why its share price shot up by more than a quarter on Monday. It saw its price close 26% up on Friday鈥檚 trading following news over the weekend the firm will meet banks this week including Barclays, HSBC and Santander about a potential refinancing deal.