Balfour Beatty ticked all the right boxes last year, boosting profits and the dividend, while increasing an already healthy order from £11.4bn to £12.8bn. The group boasts another £4.9bn of work at the preferred bidder stage, too.
There are four trading divisions, and with the exception of the rail division - where operating profits edged up 3 per cent to £41m - they all returned double-digit profit growth. On the building and services side, profits rose 26 per cent to £88m, thanks to a full-year contribution from US acquisitions, while profits from civil engineering rose 27 per cent to £104m. New work continues to flow in here, although towards the end of the year there was a noticeable slowdown in work from Dubai.
Meanwhile, the investment side - largely a public-private partnership (PPP) portfolio - increased its profits by 94 per cent to £31m and included a maiden contribution from Balfour Beatty Communities in the US, which was acquired last April. The group is financially well placed, with solid cash flow and no debt.
Panmure Gordon expects pre-tax profits of £269m for 2009 and EPS of 42.8p.
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| BALFOUR BEATTY (BBY) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 341p | MARKET VALUE: | £1,630m | |
| TOUCH: | 341-342p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 484p | LOW: 224p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.8% | PE RATIO: | 8 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 180p* | NET CASH: | £440m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 3.94 | 94.0 | 58.7 | 6.60 |
| 2005 | 4.59 | 124 | 24.9 | 8.10 |
| 2006 | 5.51 | 109 | 17.6 | 9.10 |
| 2007 | 7.49 | 157 | 39.3 | 11.5 |
| 2008 | 9.49 | 270 | 42.9 | 12.8 |
| % change | +27 | +72 | +9 | +11 |
Ex-div: 22 Apr Payment: 6 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £1.2bn, or 251p a share | ||||
