Analysts are warning that Carillion is not the only major West Midlands company with a significant pension fund deficit.
As local businesses and politicians struggle to assess the damage from the collapse of Carillion, the attention is turning to other companies that also have holes in their pension funds.
Our data team found some of West Midlands based companies with pension deficit and dividends payment. They include:
- Redditch-based engineering firm GKN
- Birmingham pub and restaurant group Mitchells and Butlers (M&B)
- Birmingham-based engineering company IMI
Carillion, the UK’s second biggest company facing the bankruptcy, had a £587 million pension deficit in June 2017, 50% higher than December 2015.
However, according to the annual company’s report, the firm was still paying dividends of £82.7 million in December 2016.
GKN had a £2 billion pension deficit in 2016. This number had increased by 30.5 percent from the previous year.
GKN employs 58,200 workers around the world. It was founded more than 250 years ago and has a global engineering business. They design and manufacture components for vehicle and machinery manufacturers.
Birmingham-based Mitchells and Butlers (M&B), a pub and restaurant group with 45,891 employees, had a £46 million pension deficit in 2017.
According to its latest annual report, the company paid out £31 million in dividends.
With a similar workforce, GKN’s pension deficit was almost 40 times bigger than Mitchells and Butlers’.
The engineering company, IMI PLC has a significantly higher pension deficit than M&B, despite having over 40,000 less staff.
According to the firm’s annual report, the pension deficit in 2016 reached £79.8 million, while they continued to pay out £102.5 million in dividends during the same period.
Data team: Carmen Aguilar, Jonny Jacobsen, Steve Carufel, Victoria Oliveres, Wan Ulfa
