Lendlease sold its US and UK construction arms, refocused on Australia — profit returned

In May 2024 Australia-based builder and developer Lendlease said it would pull out of international construction markets and reorganise around Australian work. Within nine months it had substantially completed the divestment of its international construction operations: Consigli Building Group bought 45 current, under-construction and pre-construction US projects valued at over $1.8 billion, taking on some 400 employees — the majority of Lendlease's US workforce — and in January 2025 Lendlease entered a binding agreement to sell its UK construction business to Atlas Holdings.

The first results landed in February 2025: a statutory profit of AU$48 million for the first half of FY25 (ending 31 December 2024) against a AU$136 million statutory loss in the same period a year earlier. CEO Tony Lombardo said the group had made 'strong progress simplifying the group, reducing its risk profile and recycling capital to be a more focused organization'. Construction revenue fell 18% for the period, and losses remained on two unnamed fixed-price projects awarded in 2020-21 whose material costs ballooned — the kind of job the new strategy stops chasing.

The pivot answered five years in which supply-chain issues, the COVID-19 pandemic and subcontractor insolvency had eaten into construction earnings. Lombardo guided that construction would return to profitability in the second half of FY25, and said the shift had progressed on schedule.

H1 FY25 profit of AU$48M vs AU$136M loss a year earlier; 45 US projects worth over $1.8B sold to Consigli; UK arm sale agreed with Atlas Holdings.

International construction had produced years of losses from supply-chain problems, COVID disruption and subcontractor insolvencies.

Selling entire country businesses de-risks the group faster than fixing troubled projects one by one.

Capital recycled from the US and UK sales funds a more focused Australian development and construction pipeline.

Exit what you can't win locally: selling whole country businesses recycles capital faster than fixing them project by project.

The final US sale price was undisclosed. Lombardo flagged continued FY25 headwinds, including losses on the two legacy fixed-price jobs, but guided to construction profitability in H2 FY25 as the group completed its simplification on schedule.