A study of the growth-investment-financing nexus of the major UK construction groups

Punwani, A (1997) A study of the growth-investment-financing nexus of the major UK construction groups. Construction Management and Economics, 15(4), pp. 349-361. ISSN 01446193

Abstract

This paper compares the relationship between growth, investment and financing of the contracting operations with that of the housebuilding operations in the large, diversified UK construction groups during the 1980s. A graphical presentation of a financial analysis of the contracting and housebuilding divisions' company accounts illustrates significant changes in the levels of capital investment and the sources and uses of finance of these two activities during a period of marked growth in turnover. It is established that the major contractors not only achieved significant growth in their turnover with negligible recourse to additional capital investment but in fact generated surplus funds which could be diverted into other businesses in their respective construction group's portfolio of business activities. It is shown that their 'cash-requiring' speculative housebuilding businesses relied on such intra-group funds as a main source of finance for investment in land during the 1980s.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: construction majors; contracting; growth; housebuilding; intra-group financing; investment
Index terms: turnover, speculative housebuilding, capital investment, financial analysis, financing, land, housebuilding
Subjects: business management, economic analysis, design economy, real estate economics, economic development, construction integration
Topics: Urban Studies, Design Practice, Business Strategy
Descriptive scope: 2 PC

N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here