Business Times reports that construction company Group Five's workforce would probably be halved to 3,000 in its bid to survive, the company's business rescue team said last week.  

Group Five is one of several construction companies that have entered business rescue this year.  Metis Strategic Advisors, its business rescue practitioners (BRPs), hope to conclude the process by February or March next year.  Dave Lake, one of the BRPs, said it was an "incredibly complex rescue" and the plan was still being drawn up.  A key feature of the rescue would be the downsizing of staff, which had swelled to 8,100 by September last year.  In March, when Group Five filed for business rescue, the company commenced the first phase of its retrenchment process.  Lake said by the time the BRPs were appointed, the company was employing between 6,600 and 6,700 people, with a lot of them in projects on-site and in fixed-term contracts.  In March, Group Five estimated it would have to pay out R233m in severance packages, which the BRPs confirmed last week.  Peter van den Steen, who is managing the rescue process with Lake, said they had encountered "a lot of pent-up anger" among employees and shareholders.  "Employees thought they were working for a company that is bullet-proof," he observed.  Economist Christie Viljoen indicated:  "The construction industry is with its back against the wall.  The low level of overall [business and building] confidence will almost certainly continue into the third and fourth quarters and government expenditure is under severe pressure, resulting in reductions in fixed capital spending."

• Read the full original of Asha Speckman’s report on the above at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
• Read too, Construction activity expected to increase, on page 15 of Business Report of 21 June 2019

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page