With a £200m hit to sales due to Covid-19, Galliford Try's (GFRD) underlying pre-tax losses widen to £62m in the year to 30 June, versus a £17m loss a year earlier. The construction group was weighed down by project delays and lower productivity, as well as the settlement of final accounts on legacy contracts.
The statutory picture actually improved, with pre-tax losses more than halving to £35m. This came as Galliford received a £32m cash settlement from the Scottish government for additional costs incurred on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project.
Thanks to the proceeds from selling its housebuilding and partnerships businesses to Bovis Homes – now Vistry (VTY) – the group is sitting on £197m of net cash (excluding lease liabilities), compared with £57m of net debt a year earlier. It has fully repaid all of its borrowings and does not have any pension liabilities after these obligations were transferred to Vistry.
Despite the cash balance, there is no final dividend, which follows the interim payout being cancelled in March. But Galliford says it will reinstate the dividend when it returns to profitability, which it is guiding to this year. The group is pointing to an adjusted operating profit margin of 1.4-1.6 per cent on revenue of £1.1bn-1.3bn.
Liberum forecasts a £6m adjusted operating profit in 2021, rising to £10m in 2022.
| GALLIFORD TRY (GFRD) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 94.2p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 104m | |
| TOUCH: | 94.2-94.8p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 887p | LOW: 77p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 109p* | NET CASH: | £175m | |
| Year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 2.49 | 135 | 118 | 72.9 |
| 2017 | 2.66 | 71.0 | 53.1 | 86.0 |
| 2018 | 2.93 | 144 | 121 | 77.0 |
| 2019 (restated) | 1.40 | -64.5 | -44.7 | 58.0 |
| 2020 | 1.12 | -34.6 | -29.4 | nil |
| % change | -20 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £85m, or 77p a share | ||||
