Henry Boot (BHY) was kept very busy in 2016 and with many of its larger commercial development projects pre-sold, turnover increased by three-quarters (see table). Crucially, a majority of the schemes were pre-funded, amounting to £600m, leaving only a small amount of internal funding and keeping net debt low at just £32.9m.
Projects under way included a new 800,000 sq ft exhibition and conference centre in Aberdeen, and terms are expected to be agreed in 2017 on a further 2m sq ft of commercial space, which includes a second 480,000 sq ft warehouse for distributor Great Bear; both schemes are being pre-funded.
Through Hallam Land Management, Henry Boot also brings land through the planning process to sell to housebuilders. A total of 16 sites comprising 1,609 residential plots were sold, and planning consent was secured on 5,800 plots - taking the total of consented plots to 16,417. All in all, the group is sitting on 11,888 acres of land.
On the construction side, which includes both public and private clients, profit levels exceeded expectations, while almost 90 per cent of forecast activity for 2017 has already been secured.
Analysts at WH Ireland are forecasting pre-tax profits for the year to December 2017 of £40.9m and EPS of 23.5p (up from £39.5m and 21.5p in 2016).
| HENRY BOOT (BHY) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 237p | MARKET VALUE: | £313m | |
| TOUCH: | 233-240p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 242p | LOW: 163p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.0% | PE RATIO: | 11 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 175p | NET DEBT: | 14% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 103 | 13.4 | 7.0 | 4.7 |
| 2013 | 154 | 18.4 | 8.6 | 5.1 |
| 2014 | 147 | 28.3 | 16.2 | 5.6 |
| 2015 | 176 | 32.4 | 17.5 | 6.1 |
| 2016 | 307 | 39.5 | 21.5 | 7 |
| % change | +74 | +22 | +23 | +15 |
Ex-div: 27 Apr Payment: 30 May | ||||
