Galliford-Balfour JV settles on Aberdeen motorway claims

(Reuters) - A joint venture of Galliford Try <GFRD.L> and Balfour Beatty Plc <BALF.L> is in advanced discussions to settle claims related to the construction of a motorway project in Aberdeen, the British companies said on Monday.

Builder Galliford and infrastructure firm Balfour jointly worked on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and incurred additional costs after the collapse of Carillion, a major partner on the project that fell behind schedule and exceeded budget.

As part of the settlement with their client, the companies will receive 32 million pounds ($41.53 million) each, Galliford and Balfour said in separate statements. Galliford added it expected to write down 52 million pounds in related costs.

Including the write-off, Galliford expects a total write-down of about 61 million pounds at the end of the year, while Balfour said it continues to expect annual profit from operations to be in line with its previous expectations.

Failure to complete what was one of Scotland's biggest motorway construction projects in time was one of the factors that pushed Carillion over the edge in January last year.

Shares of Galliford and Balfour, which substantially fell in 2018, were little changed on Monday.

($1 = 0.7705 pounds)

(Reporting by Samantha Machado and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)