Balfour Beatty makes progress because it restructures the business, Persimmon sells more houses at higher prices, Hochschild benefits from higher output and costs , Network International says activity starts returning to pre-pandemic levels, and Rotork launches a replacement share buyback.
Top News: Balfour Beatty confident profits can return to pre-pandemic levels this year
Balfour Beatty said profits should return to pre-pandemic levels this year because it continues to restructure the business because it hiked its dividend and bumped-up expectations for 2022.

Revenue within the half came in at £4.15 billion, broadly level with the £4.18 billion booked the year before. the corporate said its support services division performed well and benefited from exiting the water and gas sector, but said its construction services unit was hit by challenges in London.

The company turned to an underlying operating profit of £60 million from a £14 million loss the year before. The reported pretax profit of £35 million turned from a £26 million loss.

Moving forward, its order book at the top of June was valued at £16.1 billion, down slightly from £16.4 billion the year before. It said most of the work is said to key infrastructure which 80% of orders are from the general public sector or regulated industries.

‘We still reshape Balfour Beatty to play to its strengths. These include leading capability in markets where governments are committed to long-term infrastructure programmes. It means choosing to exclude regions and sectors which cannot provide profitable, low risk growth, in favour of these which will . Our priority is on executing our already strong order book which can drive attractive cash generation and returns,’ said chief executive Leo Quinn.

Balfour Beatty kicked-off a £1.1 billion asset disposal programme in June because it looks to dump its asset-heavy infrastructure investments business, leaving it focused on asset-light activities around construction and support services.

Balfour Beatty said it's paying an interim dividend worth 3.0 pence per share, which is a few 43% above what it had been paying before the pandemic erupted. It also purchased £99 million worth of shares through its buyback programme that was accelerated during the primary half, leaving it with around £51 million to distribute under the present plan.

Balfour Beatty reiterated that operating profits should return to pre-pandemic levels this year. It also bumped up expectations for its support services division, which is now targeting a margin of 6% to eight in 2022 instead of the previous goal of three to five .

Balfour Beatty shares were trading 3.6% lower in early trade this morning at 307.1p, but still trade over 13% above the beginning of 2021.


Persimmon bumps up dividend because it sells more houses at higher prices
Persimmon said revenue and profits both grew within the half as activity bounced back after being hit by the pandemic last year, allowing it to step-up dividends and putting it on track to deliver a tenth jump in completions in 2021.

Revenue rose to £1.84 billion within the half of 2021 from £1.19 billion the year before. That was the results of building 7,406 homes at a mean asking price of £236,199 compared to only 4,900 homes at £225,066 the year before, when construction was disrupted by the eruption of the pandemic. Persimmon said construction has now remained above pre-pandemic levels for 12 consecutive months.

‘We anticipate successfully delivering 10% growth in sales completions this year. The group features a great platform and good momentum to deliver further disciplined growth into the medium term, creating value for all,’ said chief executive Dean Finch.

That, combined with better margins of 27.6% versus 26.6% last year, allowed pretax profit to leap to £480.1 million from £292.4 million.

Persimmon said it's a forward sales position of £2.23 billion at the top of June, down from £2.48 billion a year earlier. It said cumulative average private weekly sales over the last 33 weeks has been over 20% above an equivalent period in 2019.

Persimmon brought forward its interim dividend of 125p back in March, which compared to a 40p interim payout in 2020. Persimmon said it'll pay a second dividend worth 110p this month, which compares to the 40p payout made last December.

Persimmon shares were trading 0.6% lower in early trade this morning at 2850.5p.