Renew is materially undervalued

Last year's acquisition of Amco has accelerated the shift of Renew's business and the engineering services division reported adjusted operating profits up £2.1m to £9.6m, on a 24 per cent rise in revenues to £214m. The £15m loan taken on to fund that deal is also quickly being paid back and net debt was cut from £6.8m to £5.5m.

The outlook is good as well. Maintenance and decommissioning work at Britain's ageing nuclear sites such as Sellafield was behind a 50 per cent-plus surge in the energy order book, which secures all that division's revenue for the year ahead. Spending is also being increased on maintaining Britain's rail network, which boosted Renew's infrastructure order book by 23 per cent to £74m. The specialist building business delivered double-digit operating profit growth on much improved margins as the unit withdrew from public sector building work in the north of England.