Bucknall back in the black

Bucknall Group, the construction management consultant, returned to profit in the six months to last October but decided not to restore the dividend. Richard Miles, chairman, announcing taxable profits of £105,000 against a £226,000 loss last time, said: "The board does not recommend the payment of a dividend for this half year but is taking steps to reorganise the company's reserves to enable dividends to be paid when appropriate. The performance of the group has now stabilised and market penetration is steadily increasing."

He said UK construction was showing only slow growth despite being out of recession. Last year's first-half operating loss of £149,000 had been replaced by a profit of £194,000 on sales up 15 per cent to £7m.

Mr Miles said Bucknall had successfully integrated Frost Bevan, the Birmingham-based construction consultancy that it acquired in September.

Among recent consultancy business won by the company is the building of a headquarters for Telekom Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and new engineering and ticket facilities for British Airwaysin in Madrid and Lisbon.