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UK executive quits after fifth profit warning

London - Shares in Balfour Beatty plunged on Monday after the British construction giant issued its fifth profit warning in two years, accountants were called in and executive chairperson Steve Marshall called it quits.

Balfour's shares crashed 25% in early trading to £170.25 sterling before recovering to £178.80 sterling mid-session.

The sell-off was sparked by a £75m shortfall in expected profits in the local operations of the 105-year-old company.

Marshall, in stepping down, described the fresh profit warning as "extremely disappointing" and said consultancy KPMG would be brought in to review commercial controls, contract value forecasting and project-level reporting at the UK division.

Marshall, who joined the board in 2008, will leave when a replacement is found.

"There has been inconsistent operational delivery across some parts of the UK construction business and that is unacceptable," he said in a statement. "Restoring consistency will take time and it has our full focus."

Balfour rejected a merger bid from rival British construction business Carillion last month that valued the company at £2.1bn.

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