Carillion preferred bidder for Liverpool FC stadium expansion

Carillion has been named as the preferred bidder to expand the home of Liverpool Football Club as Anfield prepares for the return of Champions League football.

Work on the extension of the main stand, which will boost capacity of the stadium by more than 15 per cent to about 54,000, is expected to start later this year, subject to planning consent.

Liverpool narrowly missed out on a first Premier League title in May, and now seems set to lose its prolific but controversial striker, Luis Suarez, to Spanish rivals Barcelona.

But the Merseyside club's owners, Fenway Sports Group - the investor behind the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise - have lofty ambitions for the side, off the pitch as much as on it.

Commercial revenues for the 2012-13 season reached almost £100m, up from £64m in 2011-12 (a 10-month period). The club has announced five new deals in recent months, with US fast-food chains Subway and Dunkin' Donuts, Indonesian airline Garuda, Indian mobile phone company Xolo and GM-owned carmaker Vauxhall.

Liverpool's chief commercial officer, Billy Hogan, has not ruled out a naming rights deal for Anfield.

For Carillion, the stadium contract is high-profile but relatively small in value. Chief executive Richard Howson said: "I believe that being selected for this prestigious project reflects Carillion's reputation for high standards of quality, health and safety and sustainability."

It is expected to take approximately 20 months to complete and the construction costs are likely to be in the region of £75m, including associated improvements to the surrounding area. The FTSE 250 construction group said it would seek to maintain as much of the existing main stand as possible in operational use throughout the contract.

In a Wednesday trading update on the first six months of 2014, the company said new order intake remained "strong", with secured and probable orders of £2.7bn expected to increase the total order book to more than £18.5bn, compared with £18bn at the end of last year.

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