Costain Share Discussion Threads

[catabrit] 18/5/2023 21:40

Interesting news today re the U.K. water sector. Not saying that Costain will be a direct beneficiary but over £5bn of investment spend is to be allocated soon.

[roguemale1] 18/5/2023 20:20

Normally, based on say Iraq, that would be based on who laid down the most arms and/or blood.
SO Bechtel. Again! LOL.

[casholaa] 17/5/2023 18:11

The question is 'Who will be re-building Ukraine?'

[catabrit] 17/5/2023 17:45

Costain’s history is fascinating. They should be as big as Balfour considering their pedigree but somehow through various strategic mishaps, poor management, bad incentives and bad luck they’ve squandered the chance. Let’s hope the future is brighter. I think we have a decent management team. I know Alex isn’t to everyone’s tastes but I think he’ll do a better job of captaining the ship than some of his predecessors.

[muckshifter] 17/5/2023 16:37

Unfortunately KLR are not in any way comparable to Costain these days. In the 70s Costain were, iirc, the UK's biggest overseas contractor, but now are almost exclusively UK, whereas KLR are now mostly overseas with a relatively small UK workload.

[disc0dave45] 17/5/2023 16:20

Keller issued a bullish trading update this morning.

[catabrit] 17/5/2023 12:08

He / she also downvotes everyone who disagrees with him / her which is a massive red flag. Was ramping everyone into Gattaca which is now off 25% from its highs. People like Blackhorse give the rest of us a bad name. I have no idea how they look at themselves in the mirror. No shame. No conscience. Zero integrity.

Waste of airtime.

[hamhamham1] 17/5/2023 10:32

Purplebricks must have been a tremendous imaginary investment :)

[owenski] 17/5/2023 10:18

The guy is a complete bellend and also pays a subscription to be so.

[blackhorse23] 17/5/2023 09:58

Switched to HARL

[roguemale1] 16/5/2023 11:26

I also hear they've got some more... er defence sector, work following on from the last lot.

[catabrit] 16/5/2023 11:18

Well in Sue Kershaw I trust. She sounds awesome. I was impressed by her from what I heard on the podcast. She also buys into Alex’s vision to turn the highways division into more of a project management led business over time.

[roguemale1] 16/5/2023 10:58

To be honest, its a long long time since I worked on a road job, more a "concrete farmer" for the last 30 odd years.
But the way that article is written suggests there is either a problem with Costain's pricing being too comfortable or HA budget being too low. Now probably a combination of the two-certainly cost advice client side usually lags reality in any part of the industry.
You get appointed preferred bidder and then the price is firmed up with the supply chain. So that's when its hit the fan. Now I have no idea if any of the other road market players would have been any better, but maybe fresh blood from outside wouldn't hurt. Because don't forget a few good long termers left when the current top tier was appointed. I'm not going back to that again because you and I have said enough on that topic, but you need people who can manage risk for the money. You can always just add loads of money to cover the risk but then you wont win any work...its a balance.

[catabrit] 16/5/2023 10:26

Thanks for sharing Rogue. You clearly have access to interesting market intel. I’ll do better to take on board more of what you say. Appreciate it.

[roguemale1] 16/5/2023 10:17

Hi Catabrit.
Ummm, well let's just say that is hopefully the end to something that I said still had some legs a few weeks ago.
And assuming that replacements are sought from the market with the right credentials, the Highways Agency will be pleased on both counts. And irrespective of leading edge and all that stuff, its still an important market.

[catabrit] 16/5/2023 09:38

Yes I noticed that he had left via LinkedIn. Another guy from the consultancy business they acquired (Rhead) has left too

When I pressed IR about the margins vs macro backdrop they alluded to cutting fat / headcount. So I anticipate seeing more of this as they rightsize the business for the risk appetite / pipeline of work they have.

Could you elaborate on why you think this is good news? Curious to get an insider’s perspective I.e. from someone in the industry.

[roguemale1] 16/5/2023 09:11

Morning all.
Well this is going around so I'll post the link.
For me its good news.
hxxps://www.constructionenquirer.com/2023/05/16/top-level-shake-up-looms-at-costain-highways-division/

[catabrit] 16/5/2023 09:07

FYI - Nice update from Hercules Site Services this morning. Also trading in line with expectations. They act as a sort of match-maker between infra projects / contractors and blue collar workers.

Let’s keep seeking / sharing these data points no matter if they support or disprove the hypothesis on Costain.

[disc0dave45] 13/5/2023 18:30

Yep from March finals RNS for FY12/22:o Free cash flow(2) of GBP72.9m (FY21: GBP53.1m) mainly reflecting positive working capital.o Net cash at year(3) end FY22 of GBP123.8m (FY21: GBP119.4m), ahead of market expectations.

[roguemale1] 13/5/2023 15:22

Yep, page 7 2022 report and accounts.

[catabrit] 13/5/2023 13:10

We must have a different Cost. Because ours has £130m.

[playnicely] 13/5/2023 11:42

Construction as a sector seems to be at a low point. COST had £100m in cash a couple of years ago, then £75m at end of 2021, now nothing according to the 2022 annual report. Still showing the same NAV but where did the cash go?

[the count] 12/5/2023 14:50

--->CATABRIT

Me too.

TC!

[catabrit] 12/5/2023 13:56

Happy to buy on weakness here.