Costain has announced growing losses in its education and health division, and confirmed it is pulling back from public sector work.
In its preliminary results for the year ending 31 December 2009 the building firm said its community division, which includes its health, education and retail work, "has been intentionally scaled down as we continue to allocate resources to more attractive opportunities."
Revenue for the divison fell from £285.6 million in 2008 to £167.8 million last year. Over the same period, the division's losses increased from £5.2 million to £8.4 million.
The firm said the increased loss "reflects additional costs necessary to complete a number of projects together with restructuring costs and reduced overhead recovery as the operations are scaled down."
The firm as a whole increased its revenue from £996 million to £1.06 billion, the first time it has exceeded £1 billion in 16 years. Profit from operations increased from £18.3 million to £20.8 million.
Costain is a contractor on Building Schools for the Future schemes in both Lewisham and Bradford.