"This indemnity demonstrates the confidence of the Roberts family in both the Wembley project and in management's ability to recover claims," a Multiplex statement states. "The Roberts family has nevertheless advised that they do not believe losses will emerge on the project and remain confident that claims will be sufficient to cover any additional costs."

Multiplex was founded in 1962 in Perth, Western Australia, by current chairman John Roberts and has always been a family affair, even since its 2003 listing on the Australian Stock Exchange. The family holds 26% of the group, but last week the company shocked the markets by reversing a previously booked profit on the project, saying litigation and higher costs from its change of steel contractor last year were to blame for eroding expected profits both this year and next.

"We have written the project back to a break-even situation," Multiplex chief executive Andrew Roberts says, adding that Multiplex was actively pursuing a range of claims against contracting parties, which the company believed would push the project into the black. Construction of the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium stopped last year as the company became bogged down in a dispute with steel contractor Cleveland Bridge, which designed and built the stadium's signature arch. Cleveland was eventually replaced by Dutch company Hollandia.

But the markets became jittery largely because the company had said at the time that the change of contractor would not impact the bottom line and that it would not "affect the program or group earnings." Now the company says it expects to win its legal action against subcontractors to break even on the project but says it could recover about double that amount.