Shares in Henry Boot (BHY) jumped over 6 per cent after the construction, property and land development group delivered a 79 per cent rise in first-half operating profits to £14m. Turnover was down, but that's because the prior-year numbers were boosted by the £15m one-off sale of land at the chocolate factory site in York.
The principle trading arm is Hallam Land, which buys land and brings it through the planning process ready for sale to builders. Progress here was boosted by more favourable planning procedures. This pushed the number of win consents to over 40 sites, covering around 500 acres. The group now holds 10,845 units with planning consent.
Construction work provides another useful source of income, and operating profits here rose 30 per cent to just under £4m. Thanks to plentiful new orders, the budgeted turnover for the full year has already been secured, and work for 2015 is already starting to build.
On the property investment side, demand for assets outside of London continues to build. With supply remaining relatively constrained, the £512,000 downward valuation accrued in the previous first half was turned into a £1.8m uplift. This and profit on disposals boosted the division's operating profits from £1.3m to £6.4m.
Analysts at broker Investec Securities forecast full-year normalised pre-tax profits of £20.4m and EPS of 13.8p (from £19.4m and 13.3p in 2013).
| HENRY BOOT (BHY) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 199p | MARKET VALUE: | £261m | |
| TOUCH: | 199-205p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 240p | LOW: 172p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.6% | PE RATIO: | 16 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 148p | NET DEBT: | 17% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 81.8 | 7.4 | 3.6 | 1.95 |
| 2014 | 65.8 | 13.4 | 7.4 | 2.1 |
| % change | -20 | +81 | +106 | +8 |
Ex-div: 24 Sep Payment: 24 Oct | ||||
