CMA fines three building firms £36m for price fixing

The Competition and Markets Authority has fined three building companies £36m for breaking competition law.

The competition watchdog has fined Northern Ireland-based FP McCann more than £25m, while Derbyshire-based Stanton Bonna and Somerset-based CPM Group will have to pay more than £7m and £4m, respectively, for taking part in an illegal price-fixing cartel.

The CMA found that between July 2006 and March 2013, they agreed to fix or coordinate their prices, shared the market by allocating customers and regularly exchanged competitively sensitive information. The arrangements involved meetings attended by senior executives from each of the firms.

CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli said: "These companies entered into illegal arrangements where they secretly shared out the market for important building products and agreed to keep prices artificially high. This is totally unacceptable as it cheats customers out of getting a good deal.

"The CMA will not hesitate to issue appropriately large fines in these cases and we will continue to crack down on cartels in the construction sector and in other industries."