Balfour Beatty 1st Half Pretax Profit Rose as Costs Fell

By Anthony O. Goriainoff

Balfour Beatty PLC said Wednesday that pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2023 rose on lower costs, and that for the full 2022 calendar year, its UK construction division looks set to deliver industry-standard margins in the 2% to 3% range.

The FTSE-250 infrastructure group said that for the six months ended July 1 pretax profit was 83 million pounds ($100.4 million) compared with GBP35 million for the first half of fiscal 2022.

Revenue fell slightly to GBP3.60 billion from GBP3.61 billion in the year-prior period.

Underlying profit from operations--one of the company's preferred metrics, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--was GBP85 million compared with GBP60 million the prior year.

The board declared an interim dividend of 3.5 pence a share compared with 3.0 pence a share the year before.

The company said U.K. construction returned to profit in the period following writedowns on private sector property projects in central London in the first half of 2021, with U.S. Construction, Gammon--its joint venture with Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd.--and Infrastructure Investments performing in line with expectations.

"With Balfour Beatty's businesses well-positioned in markets with excellent opportunities, underpinned by the strength of its balance sheet and investments portfolio, the board expects to drive further profitable managed growth and significant shareholder returns in 2023," the company said.

Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 17, 2022 03:23 ET (07:23 GMT)

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