Industry contractor Renew has taken a £9.9m financial hit after selling its loss-making gas contracting business, Forefront.

In its interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2018, the engineering services group revealed its interim pre-tax profit was £2.0m, compared with £5.6m during the same period in 2017. Group revenue dipped slightly to £262.2m (2017: £281.8m), with adjusted operating profit unmoved at £12.9m (2017: £12.9m).

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In February, Renew revealed it was selling its Forefront business to Ferns Group. The sale incurred a loss on disposal of £3m and resulted in a £6.89m write off of goodwill.

Elsewhere at the main Renew engineering services arm, revenue was £221.8m (2017: £226.6m) with adjusted operating profit of £12.9m (2017: £12.7m). Orders also rose 9% to £472m (2017: 435m).

David Forbes, Chairman of Renew Holdings, said: "This period has seen Renew deliver another set of interim results in line with management expectations. The Group's strategy remains to develop its engineering services business both organically and through selective acquisitions which was demonstrated by the post period end acquisition of QTS, positioning the Group to continue to generate shareholder value."

(LM/MH)