South African construction and engineering group Murray & Roberts (M&R) has pulled out of another contract in Dubai, bringing its total cancelled order book in the Middle East and elsewhere to R20-billion.

The group said in a statement to shareholders on Thursday that the Al Habtoor Murray & Roberts Takenaka (HMRT) joint venture (JV) had reached an agreement with Dubai Civil Aviation to withdraw its contract to build the Dubai International Airport Concourse 3.

HMRT had been awarded the contract in December last year, but had been unable to finalise “mutually acceptable” contract terms since.

M&R said its 40% share of the contract was worth about R5-billion.

But the group, which is led by Brian Bruce, insisted that the cancellation would not have a material impact on its results.

The group had announced in March that its JV contract for the construction of the Tameer Towers project, in Abu Dhabi had been terminated.

That cancellation, which was also estimated to be worth R5-billion for the group, had increased to R15-billion the value of contracts that had been secured by M&R, but that had since either been cancelled or suspended. With the latest cancellation, that figure had risen to R20-billion, and there were said to be other projects in the same region being reviewed as a result of the global economic crisis.

Bruce has previously continued to assure shareholders that the construction market in the region was not in a state of collapse.

In March, he also said that there were other opportunities in the Middle East, which could replace its forward order book.

The company's shares closed at R42,85 a share, down R2,15, or 4,8%, from Wednesday's close, on the news.