Given that most of the £121m proceeds from John Laing Group' s (JLG) re-listing last February were used to reduce retirement benefit obligations, a 15.4 per cent jump in net asset value for the year is impressive. The source of the uplift: a £132m movement in the fair value of the portfolio.
Look beneath the headline figure, and the group's first set of full results since IPO show further promise. Total new investment commitments for the period reached £180.5m, well ahead of the £135m annual average since 2011. This was partly funded by realisations of £86.3m, shy of the £100m target set at the interim stage owing to a delay in the sale of a shareholding in JLG's British Transport Police project and the disposal of another asset to the John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF) for £19.5m.
Both were completed post-year-end, against a secondary market which remains active despite macro-economic uncertainty. Management reports a strong pipeline for new investments, 95 per cent of which are outside the UK. For example, the "obvious and urgent" need for new infrastructure in the US gives chief executive Olivier Brousse confidence there, regardless of the outcome of November's presidential election.
HSBC now expects earnings per share of 41p and pre-tax profit of £150.5m in 2016, up from 27.6p and £100.9m last year.
JOHN LAING GROUP (JLG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 215p | MARKET VALUE: | £789m | |
| TOUCH: | 214.5-215p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 240p | LOW: 186p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.2% | PE RATIO: | 8 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 242p | NET DEBT: | 2% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011* | 144 | -25.4 | na | nil |
| 2012* | 205 | 24.3 | na | nil |
| 2013* | 233 | 134 | 43.9 | nil |
| 2014* | 207 | 120 | 40.2 | nil |
| 2015^ | 161 | 97.5 | 28.3 | 6.90 |
| % change | -22 | -19 | -30 | - |
Ex-div: 21 Apr Payment: 20 May *Pre-IPO figures (pro-forma). ^Statutory. Final dividend includes a special dividend of 2.1p per share. | ||||
