Infrastructure specialist John Laing (JLG) faces local government battles with two of its projects: the New Royal Adelaide Hospital, in South Australia, where delays have led to mediation discussions between stakeholders; and Manchester Waste VL, where the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority is pushing the project company for further cost savings. Together, these account for 8 per cent of the investment portfolio.
However, these problems couldn't hold back net asset value growth, which hit just north of £1bn at the end of the period. This was helped by generally favourable currency movements, increasing the fair value of the portfolio by £74.7m in 2016, offset by £11.9m losses on currency hedges.
The pipeline for future projects is £1.86bn, up from £1.49bn last year. Of the current pipeline, £1.41bn relates to public private partnerships, for which the group has a win rate of around 30 per cent. And it is also well positioned to benefit should the UK or US governments increase infrastructure spending, which both have hinted at.
Analysts at Barclays Capital are forecasting profit before tax of £154m in 2017, giving EPS of 42p (down from £192m and 51.9p in 2016).
| JOHN LAING (JLG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 266.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £978m | |
| TOUCH: | 266.5-267p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 284p | LOW: 207p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.1% | PE RATIO: | 5 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 277p | NET DEBT: | 9% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012** | 205 | 24 | na | nil |
| 2013** | 233 | 134 | 43.9 | nil |
| 2014** | 207 | 120 | 40.2 | nil |
| 2015 | 161 | 98 | 28.3 | 4.80 |
| 2016 | 261 | 192 | 51.9 | 5.55 |
| % change | +62 | +97 | +83 | +16 |
Ex-div:20 Apr Payment:19 May **Pre-IPO figures *Excludes special dividends of 2.6p per share for 2016 and 2.1p for 2015 | ||||
