THE Government’s decision to axe its school rebuilding scheme sent shares plunging in IT supplier RM Group – after it revealed £200m of projects were now at risk.

The Oxfordshire-based firm said it had been named as preferred bidder for seven Building Schools for the Future projects, which will now be subject to review and “may be scaled back significantly”.

Shares in RM slumped by about 13% at one stage yesterday before finishing 5% or 11.8p down at 243.1p.

The Government dealt a blow to the sector this week when it announced the £55bn scheme would be scrapped as part of spending cuts. About 715 schools will see their re-building projects cancelled as a result.

But Terry Sweeney, chief executive of RM, sought to assure investors that the group was “well-placed to adapt to changes in capital spending programmes”.

He said: “We have strong relationships at individual school, local government and central government levels.”