UK building industry worth four times less than Emaar

The British building industry could be bought for the price of a single Middle Eastern mega project, analysis of the value of the country's largest companies reveals.

Share prices for Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, Britain's biggest two building firms, have fallen by 84 percent and 94 percent respectively since their peaks in 2007.
Persimmon is now valued at £875 million ($1.73 billion) and Taylor Wimpey at £633 million ($1.25 billion).
Taylor Wimpey, which built more homes in Britain than any other company last year, left itself open to be sold at a firesale price on Thursday when efforts to secure finance of around £500 million failed.

The company saw its shares drop 42 percent in value on the news, despite announcing that it was cutting one-fifth of its UK workforce.

In stark comparison, the Middle East construction industry is booming. King Abdullah Economic City, on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, is believed to be costing over $25 billion to build, and is only one of five brand new cities being built across the Kingdom.

Emaar Properties, one of the main developers of Saudi Arabia's Economic Cities, is worth almost $19 billion.

In total, it is estimated that over $2 trillion will be invested in construction projects across the GCC over the next 10 years.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Share prices
Posted by Mike Hunt, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 27 November 2008 at 11:20 UAE time


How times change! What sort of comparison would the author draw now?

Meaningless comparison
Posted by prahlad, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates on Monday 7 July 2008 at 10:35 UAE time


Would someone please clarify what exactly is meant by "UK building industry worth four times less than Emaar". The comparison is absurd.

pointless article
Posted by Jack Smith, Dubai, UAE on Friday 4 July 2008 at 17:45 UAE time


What a pointless article!

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