John Laing Group

John Laing Group plc
Public
Traded as LSE: JLG
Industry Infrastructure
Founded 1848
Headquarters London, UK
Key people
 Phil Nolan (Chairman)
Olivier Brousse, (CEO)
Revenue £218.8 million (2016)[1]
£202.4 million (2016)[1]
£190.3 million (2016)[1]
Number of employees
 248 (2016)[1]
Website www.laing.com

John Laing Group plc (pronounced "Lang") is a British developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangements. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

The business can trace its roots back to 1848 when James Laing (born in 1816), along with his wife Ann Graham, and some employees whom they had hired, built a house on a plot of land that they had bought for £30 in Cumberland. The £150 proceeds from the first house financed the building of the next two houses on the same plot of land, one of which (Caldew House in Sebergham)[2] was kept by the Laing family to live in. The family and the business later moved near Carlisle.[3]

When James Laing died in 1882, his son, John Laing (born in 1842) took over the running of the company. John began to undertake larger contracts but confined the business to the Carlisle area.[3] John's son, John William Laing, (born in 1879) was working for the business before he was 20 years old, and so it became John Laing and Son. By 1910, John William Laing was running the business. More employees were recruited and larger projects were undertaken, including factory construction.[3] In 1920 the firm became a limited company, and two years later moved its headquarters from Carlisle to a 13 acres (5.3 ha) site at Mill Hill in north-west London.[3] During the Second World War the company was one of the contractors engaged in building the Mulberry harbour units.[4] William Kirby Laing and John Maurice Laing, the fifth generation of the founding family, joined the company in 1950.[3] John Laing & Sons (Holdings) Ltd was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in January 1953.[5] The family and its trusts and charities held the majority of the shares. John William Laing became the chairman, and his sons became joint managing directors. By this time, the number of employees was around 10,000, and every site had a quality supervisor. John William Laing retired in 1957. The company acquired Holloway Brothers in 1964.[6]

The Second Severn Crossing built by John Laing

Under William Kirby Laing and James Maurice Laing, the company continued to expand, winning contracts for power stations and diversifying into road construction while continuing to build houses. In 1985, Martin Laing, of the sixth generation of the founding family, became chairman.[7] Martin Laing determined that the company should begin to diversify. Home construction in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Spain, and California was now one of the major sources of the company's growth. As the company celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1998, it faced falling profits caused by cost overruns on the Millennium project and continuing problems within its construction division, related to competition and overcapacity.[8] In 1999 John Laing plc purchased a controlling interest in the Chiltern Rail franchise[9] and by 2002 had structured itself into two main divisions, namely Homes and Investments. It underwent yet another change when Sir Martin Laing retired in early 2002. Bill Forrester took over as executive chairman. For the first time in its history Laing did not have a member of the founding family at the head of the company.[10]

The Millennium Stadium, built by John Laing

The business expanded rapidly in the late 1990s, such that for the year ended 31 December 2001 its turnover was in excess of £1 billion. Following significant losses on certain construction contracts (particularly the Cardiff Millennium Stadium) the company cut 800 jobs[11] and in 2001 disposed of its construction division to O'Rourke for £1.[12] It focused instead on its PPP / PFI activities.[13] Laing's property developments divisions were sold to Kier Group,[14] and its house building arm was sold to George Wimpey in 2002.[15] In 2003 its affordable housing division was sold in a management buy-out.[16]

In December 2006 John Laing plc was acquired by the private equity arm of Henderson Group.[17] The Laing Rail division - operators of Chiltern Railways and London Overground (with MTR Corporation), and holders of a stake in the open-access railway operator Wrexham & Shropshire - was put up for sale by in September 2007.[18] The division was purchased by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn in January 2008.[19]

In June 2008 John Laing formed a consortium with Hitachi and Barclays Private Equity called Agility Trains to bid for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintain a fleet of long-distance trains for the Intercity Express Programme.[20] The bid was successful and the contract was awarded to the consortium on the 12 February 2009.[20] The company established the John Laing Infrastructure Fund in 2010 in a £270 million public launch.[21] Then in October 2013 the company sold its facilities management business to Carillion.[22] Olivier Brousse was appointed as Chief Executive in March 2014.[23] The John Laing Environmental Fund was established in 2014 in a £174 million public launch.[24] In February 2015 the company became listed on the London Stock Exchange again.[25]

Operations

John Laing plc operates as an infrastructure investor and asset manager, principally for the public sector. They have operations in the UK, North America, Europe and Asia Pacific providing private finance for accommodation, health care, transport, waste management and renewable energy projects. The company conducts three principal activities:[26]

Primary Investment - Sourcing, bidding for and winning greenfield infrastructure projects. Portfolio includes traditional public-private partnership (PPP) structures for the UK healthcare sector, as well as renewable energy.

Secondary Investment - Holding operational infrastructure investments, mainly from their own primary investments.

Asset Management - Asset Management services to both the primary and secondary investment portfolios and also to projects in which John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF) is a shareholder. This includes: value enhancement; project delivery during the construction phase; technical input; and managed services through Management Services Agreements.

Significant investments

Significant investments include:

Former operations

Laing Construction

John Laing’s former construction division, now absorbed into Laing O'Rourke, undertook a number of landmark projects including:

The Chapelhouse Reservoir completed in 1900,[31] Catterick Camp completed in 1930,[32] Shenley Hospital completed in 1932,[33] Warwick Hall completed in 1936,[34] Holme Moss transmitting station completed in 1951,[35] the Spelga Reservoir completed in 1957,[36] the Electra Building completed in 1957,[37] Government House, Victoria completed in 1959,[37] the M1 motorway completed in 1959,[38] Coventry Cathedral completed in 1962,[39] New Century House completed in 1962,[40] the Bull Ring completed in 1964,[41] Westway completed in 1970,[42] Clifton Cathedral completed in 1973,[43] St Thomas' Hospital North Wing completed in 1975,[44] London Central Mosque completed in 1977,[45] St David's Hall completed in 1982,[46] Mount Pleasant Airfield completed in 1986,[47] Borders General Hospital completed in 1988,[48] the Stansted Airport Terminal Building completed in 1991,[49] the Sizewell B nuclear power station completed in 1995,[50] the Second Severn Crossing completed in 1996,[51] the Bridgewater Hall completed in 1996,[52] the British Library completed in 1997,[53] the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff completed in 1999[8] and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital completed in 2001.[54]

Laing Rail

The subsidiary Laing Rail owned and operated Chiltern Railways and was joint operator of London Overground (with MTR Corporation) and Wrexham & Shropshire (with Renaissance Trains). In 2008 Laing Rail was sold to Deutsche Bahn.[19]

Musical reference

Along with Sir Robert McAlpine and George Wimpey, Laing is mentioned in the opening preamble to the 1960 Dominic Behan satirical Irish ballard McAlpine's Fusiliers.[55]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Annual Results 2016" (PDF). John Laing Group. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  2. ↑ Ritchie, p. 15
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cumbrian roots for flotation firm". Cumberland Echo. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  4. ↑ Hartcup, p. 94
  5. ↑ Ritchie, p. 119
  6. ↑ Ritchie, p. 145
  7. ↑ "Birthdays". The Times. 18 January 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Cardiff stadium 'financial disaster'". BBC. 9 September 1999. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Green light for Laing rail stake". The Independent. 10 March 1999. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  10. ↑ "John Laing names new chairman". Evening Standard. 4 December 2001. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  11. ↑ "Laing axes jobs after stadium loss". BBC News. 27 October 1999. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  12. ↑ "Laing shares halve in value". BBC News. 21 September 2001. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  13. ↑ "Laing focuses on PFI as losses cut to £18.6m". The Scotsman. 18 March 2003. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "Kier snaps up Laing Property". Property Week. 15 April 2002. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  15. ↑ "Wimpey in £297m Laing homes buy". This is money. 16 October 2002. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  16. ↑ "Northern Venture backs John Laing MBO". Financial News. 28 September 2003. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  17. ↑ "Henderson beats Allianz to John Laing". The Guardian. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  18. ↑ "Chiltern Railways auction attracts strong interest". Reuters. 17 September 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  19. 1 2 "Deutsche Bahn buys Laing Rail". 21 January 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 "New train fleet 'to boost jobs'". BBC News. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
  21. ↑ "John Laing to launch £270m infrastructure fund". Building. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  22. ↑ "Carillion buys John Laing's FM business". Building. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  23. ↑ "Olivier Brousse: Using his 'Coca-Cola secret recipe' to solve infrastructure problems". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  24. ↑ "John Laing backed infrastructure fund targets £174m launch". MRW. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  25. ↑ "John Laing building group to list on stock market". BBC. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  26. ↑ "John Laing sells services and facilities management business". Water & Wastewater Treatment. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  27. ↑ "Greater Manchester Waste PFI deal completed with Treasury cash". New Civil Engineer. 9 April 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  28. ↑ "John Laing plc enters Australian PPP market". IPFA. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  29. ↑ "A1 Gdañsk to Toruñ motorway, Poland". roadtraffic technology. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  30. ↑ "Balfour Beatty to proceed on Denver's Eagle P3 commuter rail project". NCE. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  31. ↑ Ritchie, p. 26
  32. ↑ Ritchie, p. 57
  33. ↑ Ritchie, p. 85
  34. ↑ Ritchie, p. 78
  35. ↑ Ritchie, p. 112
  36. ↑ Ritchie, p. 126
  37. 1 2 Ritchie, p. 129
  38. ↑ "M1 London - Yorkshire Motorway, M10 and M45". Motorway archive. Archived from the original on 4 November 2002. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  39. ↑ "Coventry Cathedral (1962)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  40. ↑ Ritchie, p. 139
  41. ↑ Ritchie, p. 140
  42. ↑ Ritchie, p. 141
  43. ↑ "Apostle Room Refurbishment". Clifton Cathedral. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  44. ↑ Ritchie, p. 147
  45. ↑ Ritchie, p. 155
  46. ↑ Ritchie, p. 166
  47. ↑ "About the Falklands". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  48. ↑ Ritchie, p. 174
  49. ↑ Ritchie, p. 173
  50. ↑ "Sizewell B Nuclear Reactor". Engineering Timelines. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  51. ↑ "Second Severn Crossing". Hansard. 19 April 1990. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  52. ↑ Ritchie, p. 180
  53. ↑ Ritchie, p. 188
  54. ↑ "Huge windfall for hospital's PFI investors as staff face job cuts". The Guardian. 3 May 2006. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  55. ↑ "McAlpines Fusiliers". Let's Sing It. Retrieved 9 February 2015.

Sources

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