Morgan Sindall (MGNS) gave investors plenty to smile about in its 2016 results. The construction group's shares surged 9 per cent after robust trading, strong cash generation and a promising outlook put concerns about the impact of the Brexit vote to rest, for now.
A combination of better bidding disciplines, better use of technology and healthy demand for affordable housing, urban regeneration and infrastructure investment helped deliver a 26 per cent rise in overall adjusted operating profit to £49m for the year. Adjusted operating profit more than doubled to £8.9m in Morgan Sindall's construction and infrastructure arm, and there was another strong performance from the more cyclical Fit Out division. Fitting out office spaces is closely linked to business confidence, so news of a record order book there of £466m at the year-end was reassuring.
The healthy balance sheet also pleased the market, with a £151m increase in net cash, driven by the completion of regeneration schemes with local authorities and better working capital management.
Analysts at Numis are forecasting adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to December 2017 of £50m and EPS of 90.7p per share (from £45.3m and 82.3p in 2016).
| MORGAN SINDALL (MGNS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 973p | MARKET VALUE: | £435m | |
| TOUCH: | 973-999p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 994p | LOW: 560p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.6% | PE RATIO: | 12 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 620p* | NET CASH: | £209m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2.10 | 34.2 | 73.0 | 27 |
| 2013 | 2.10 | 13.9 | 35.4 | 27 |
| 2014 | 2.22 | 22.8 | 42.3 | 27 |
| 2015 | 2.38 | -14.8 | -22.6 | 29 |
| 2016 | 2.56 | 43.9 | 83.8 | 35 |
| % change | +7 | - | - | +21 |
Ex-div: 27 Apr Payment: 22 May *Includes intangible assets of £217m, or 485p a share | ||||
