No idea whether this will be regarded as non-ICT or not. I think it is relevant. The sound of tightening belts must be coming from the boardroom. The building trade is in serious long-term doo-doo. Any thoughts?

Given that the housing division of Tulloch has just made a number of site managers redundant then yes it would seem that they are feeling the effects of the current housing malaise. Not sure about the civil side of it though or even which parts Tulloch owns these days.

As far as the effects on ICT, they should be minimal I would have thought as we are not so tied into Tulloch money on a day to day basis that it will hurt us. Where it might is if we were looking for assistance as has happened in the past and this may not be as easy to get as before. Our biggest shareholder is of course Mr Sutherland and it is my understanding that he has sold a good portion of the business recently and also diversified is interests in other areas. He is an intelligent man and I am sure he saw a lot of this coming - maybe not all - but he would have seen the signs.

it is my understanding that he has sold a good portion of the business recently

Yes, and it would seem that he cashed in at the peak of the company's value. Obviously believes in selling off prime assets before their value starts to decline.....

He's a pretty shrewd guy. He sold of a lump to ROK in exchange for ROK shares so, in effect he sold nothing. ROK have just won a ?15 million contract to upgrade houses in the SE of England for a home rental company

Tulloch has been "top heavy" for some time and the disposal of site managers etc came as no real shock.  What may be slightly more worrying is that they have now started to pay off tradesmen, with strong rumour that they will be down to a skelton staff before the end of the summer.

How does this effect ICT?  I don't think it should in the slightest and we shouldn't need or expect the generosity of one man to survive.  In saying that though I think it might have put the dampners on any plan Sutherland might have had to increase his/Tullochs shareholding in ICT.

He was quick to sell the disaster story that ICT needed a cash injection of around ?500,000 when Savage stepped down as Chairman in order to meet the cost of bringing in Niculae, and whilst it has been proven that Marius cost us nowhere near that figure and, in fact, his signing had been met by investment made by Savage then I predict some back peddling in the very near future.

It has been rumoured that the decision to sell Marius has already been made and I can't help but think that a small part of that decision is down to the fact that Sutherland/Tullochs are unable to make the move to increase shareholding as a result of current economic restraints and the sale of Niculae will be touted as shrewd business practice to both bring in some cash and save us one of the larger wages.

So, whilst I think it shouldn't have any real impact on ICT I do think that the political ripples will and already have had some influence on decisions being made at the club.

I'm sure your right in a lot you say CD but there could be effects for ICT if recession strikes. Those losing their jobs not being able to afford it. Those on lower incomes deciding food is more important. Its not just Tullochs that will be affected. Its all the knock ons.........contractors etc.