Construction and maintenance group Connaught's fall from grace this year has been as sudden as it has been surprising.
Less than a year ago, the firm announced healthy results for the 12 months to 31 August 2009, with turnover up a fifth to 拢660m, and pre-tax profit up 39% to 拢42.5m.
Revenue at is social housing business Connaught Partnerships, where most of the current problems seem to be centred, grew 18% to 拢528m, while its operating profit rose 22% to 拢31.2m.
Chairman Mark Tincknell said at the time: 鈥淐onnaught has maintained a clear focus on its goal of building a sustainable business and... is in good shape to deliver consistent and sustained earnings growth for many years to come.鈥�
That statement now appears either to have been full of false optimism, or an attempt to mask deeper problems, after .
The first signs of any trouble occurred at the end of January, when .
Since then, the tale of woe has grown and grown.
28 April:
28 June: , and its shares fall by one third, wiping out 拢150m of its value
9 July:
22 July:
26 July:
27 July: , following the suspicious share dealings
29 July:
9 August:
24 August:
7 September: , and the firm calls in administrators KPMG
The future now looks uncertain for the group, and for聽.
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