"How we measure ourselves is really how much new business we have won and pushed into the order book," says WYG (WYG) chief executive Paul Hamer. In this regard things are on the up for the engineering consultancy, which grew its order book by almost a fifth to £123m at the half-year mark. Delays in the release of EU funds continued to hold back the group's international performance. But a strong performance in its core UK business from infrastructure and planning markets boosted group operating profit to £2.1m from a loss of £0.27m in 2014.
UK sales were up 15 per cent thanks to steady growth in all the group's core end-markets, in particular transport. WYG won major contracts including refurbishment oversight at the headquarters of the City of London Police and the provision of technical advisory services to the Ministry of Justice.
In Europe, Africa and Asia revenue fell by around a third to £10.9m. Work in central and eastern Europe remained subdued due to EU budget delays. However, work began to accelerate once the European Structural Funds facility became operational, helping the group secure a further €20m (£14.4m) in new contracts.
Broker N +1 Singer expects adjusted EPS of 9p for the March 2016 year-end, up from 8.6p in 2015.
WYG (WYG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 130p | MARKET VALUE: | £89m | |
| TOUCH: | 129-130p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 136p | LOW: 100p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.9% | PE RATIO: | 19 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 38p* | NET CASH: | £2.6m | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 62.3 | -0.4 | -0.7 | 0.3 |
| 2015 | 62.3 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 0.5 |
| % change | - | - | - | +67 |
Ex-div: 25 Feb Payment: 16 Mar *Includes intangible assets of £19.6m, or 29p a share | ||||
