Infrastructure investor John Laing Group (JLG), which listed last month in London, ploughed a record £217m into new projects in 2014. This included a £72.7m contract managing work for the Intercity Express programme on the Great Western and East Coast main line routes. As a result, the value of its primary investment portfolio increased by more than a third to £414m. This boosted the group's net asset value (NAV) by almost a quarter to £650m. Overall target investment spend for this year is between £150m and £200m, up from £135m in 2014.
The group secures the bulk of its primary investment work via public private partnerships (PPP), as well as renewable energy projects that have recently reached financial close or are in the construction phase. Its PPP and renewable energy pipelines stood at £1.06bn and £264m, respectively, at the year-end. During the year, the group's secondary investment portfolio, which is comprised of 14 PPP projects and five renewable energy projects with a book value of £292m, realised £199m from the disposal of investments.
House broker Barclays expects adjusted EPS of 33.2p this year and a dividend of 6.8p.
JOHN LAING GROUP (JLG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 206p | MARKET VALUE: | £754m | |
| TOUCH: | 205-206p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 207p | LOW: 190p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | PE RATIO: | 5 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 177p | NET CASH: | £2m † | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011* | 144 | -25.4 | na | nil |
| 2012* | 205 | 24.3 | na | nil |
| 2013 | 233 | 134 | 43.9 | nil |
| 2014 | 207 | 120 | 40.2 | nil |
| % change | -11 | -10 | -8 | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Pre-IPO figures. † On 17 February 2015, JLG issued 67m new ords resulting in proceeds of £120m net of costs. | ||||
