Higher costs hit Wembley builder

Multiplex says its Wembley Stadium project will be completed on time

Wembley Stadium developer Multiplex has reported lower-than-expected profits and warned of tougher times ahead.

The property firm described full-year net profits of 148.1m Australian dollars (£62.3m) as "disappointing".

Multiplex has been hit by delays and cost overruns at its Wembley project, and said it needed an extra A$8.6m to complete the redevelopment on time.

Work on the English national football stadium is due to end in March 2006, in time for the FA Cup Final in May.

'Substantial losses'

The result is very disappointing and has been significantly impacted by the substantial losses experienced at Wembley National Stadium Andrew Roberts, Multiplex CEO

Australia-based Multiplex said it was dropping its profit forecast for 2006 to A$215m, from an earlier forecast of A$220m-A$235m.

In May this year, the company said its annual earnings would be dramatically hit after "cost blow-outs" at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium project.

Multiplex's construction division reported a loss of A$62m in the year to June 2005, compared with pre-tax profits of A$73.2m in the previous year.

Ongoing problems at the troubled site in north London brought about the resignation earlier this year of Multiplex's founder and executive chairman John Roberts.

"The result is very disappointing and has been significantly impacted by the substantial losses experienced at Wembley National Stadium," said Multiplex chief executive Andrew Roberts.

However, he added: "Progress since the introduction of an accelerated works programme has been encouraging and we remain on programme to hand over at the end of March 2006."

Multiplex said other operations within the group had generally performed well during the year.