Mace Construct has reported a pre-tax loss of £61.8m for 2025 on revenue of £2.3bn, up 10% on the year, in annual accounts covered by Construction Enquirer and Construction News. The firm said close to £60m of exceptional items, including £23m of restructuring and separation costs tied to the demerger of Mace Consult completed in March, drove the loss, and that stripping those out it actually swung to an operating profit of £6.5m against a £28m operating loss the year before.

The results land alongside a leadership reshuffle. Group chief executive Jason Millett is standing down at the end of December to explore new opportunities after close to two decades at Mace, having joined via the CLM delivery partner joint venture on the London 2012 Olympic programme. Chief financial officer David Allen, a former Wates chief executive who joined Mace in 2023, left this autumn, with group financial director Tony Arthurton covering on an interim basis. Rather than recruit externally for either role, executive chairman Mark Reynolds will take on chief executive as well as chair from January. The firm is also preparing to reveal a new name and logo next month, having traded as Mace Construct since the Consult demerger, a deal shareholders used to reinvest more than £200m into the construction business, which Mace says is now debt free.

Why it matters

A top five UK contractor posting a loss the same year it separates from its consultancy arm, prepares a rebrand and loses both its chief executive and finance director is a lot of change landing in one set of accounts. The underlying operating profit swing from a £28m loss to a £6.5m profit is the more important number for anyone judging the business's health, and it suggests the separation costs are a one off rather than a sign of trouble in the core construction business. But three changes at once, leadership, identity and structure, is exactly the kind of transition period where staff retention and client confidence both get tested.

What it means for your career

Reynolds choosing to run the business himself rather than hire externally for chief executive is worth reading carefully if you work there or are weighing a move in: it signals continuity at the top rather than a fresh external strategy, which tends to mean existing project directors and operational leaders get more room to step up internally rather than being passed over for an outside hire. The interim finance director arrangement also means a permanent CFO search is still to come, which is worth watching if you are senior finance talent in construction. For quantity surveyors and project managers elsewhere in the market, a major contractor mid rebrand is a reasonable moment to ask pointed questions at interview about which legal entity you would actually be employed by and how the demerger has settled commercially, rather than assuming the name on the business card next month is the only thing changing.