John Laing Share Discussion Threads

[grahamburn] 25/8/2016 19:16

As the CEO said on Radio 4 this morning, even after Brexit UK infrastructure investment is still an attractive proposition for overseas funds with its steady long term income streams, especially with the fall in sterling. That may not, of course, be the same for manufacturing investment in the mid term until the terms of the final exit deal are clear.

[mfhmfh] 25/8/2016 16:39

I think this is a solid but boring company. boring is good btw. It's also really well diversified with projects in the UK/all over the world so exposure is less risky. For example, all the house builders (apart from today) have been flying but they're all dependent on the UK economy or sentiment towards the UK economy. This is a share you can sleep well without worrying about. IMHO.

[jonwig] 25/8/2016 15:54

300p?? So that would be a 15% premium to NAV, in line with less risky infra funds. And will the forex uplift recur? Ref post #214, I think 263 is a reasonable target for now.
Or do you think this is risk-free?

[mfhmfh] 25/8/2016 11:21

looking for a steady rise towards 300p

[capricious71] 25/8/2016 09:33

It looks like our patience has been rewarded with JLG.

[igoe104] 25/8/2016 08:26

John Laing Group reiterated its full-year 2016 targets for investment commitments and realisations, with the firm's management sounding a confident note regarding its ability to successfully navigate the macroeconomic waters, Brexit included.

The infrastructure investment group reported a 8.3% increase in net asset value for the six-month stretch running through to 30 June, to reach £963.7m, which boosted its NAV per share rose from 242p to 263p.

A total of £76.0m in investment commitments were undertaken during the reference period, versus £72.1m in the comparable period of 2015.

Realisations from the sale of investments in project companies ran at a £57.7m pace.

External assets under management jumped by 12.5% to £1,277.5m.

Profits before tax were also stronger, more than tripling to hit £108.3m, while the cash yield from its investment portfolio increased 61% to £18.3m.

The group declared an interim dividend of 1.85p payable in October 2016.

[igoe104] 25/8/2016 07:58

Excellent stuff, should see a decent mark-up.

[jonwig] 25/8/2016 07:36

Just caught the CEO being interviewed on BBC R4 on UK prospects post-Brexit. He was very confident of prospects for UK economy (no doom and gloom) and for big raft of infrastructure projects ahead. Expects Heathrow decision soon.

Haven't looked in detail at H1 results yet, but note NAV of 263p. Companies running operating projects sit at a premium of 15-20% to NAV. JLG is largely development-stage projects, but parity to NAV is surely warranted given the track record. Suggests 10% upside.

EDIT: I see currency movement is biggest single factor in increase of NAV.

[mfhmfh] 25/8/2016 07:30

Results look solid

[jonwig] 19/8/2016 16:36

Yes - see header ...

[alan@bj] 19/8/2016 16:32

Half-year results are out next Thursday aren't they?

[jonwig] 19/8/2016 12:11

Thanks igoe. Definitely a growth area, costs reducing, technology advancing and UK a leader. So JLG's experience will enable it to win more contracts. (It will sell the completed farm, I imagine - maybe to JLIF which will have first refusal. If so, it will manage the operational side for a fee. Win + Win.)

[igoe104] 19/8/2016 11:59

John Laing has acquired a 30% stake in the under-construction 110.7MW Nordergrunde offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

The deal, first reported exclusively in subscriber-only newsletter reNEWS, is the international infrastructure company’s first in offshore wind and second in Germany.


Existing shareholders include WPD (30%) and Gothaer Leben Renewables (40%). The former will deliver and operate the wind farm.

Nordergrunde will feature 18 Senvion 6.2M126 turbines with installation kicking off earlier this month and the first unit now erected.

Bilfinger is lead contractor with MPI jack-up Enterprise (pictured on site) tackling installation of foundations and turbines.

The wind farm off Wilhelmshaven is due to be completed in the second quarter of 2017.

John Laing managing director of renewable energy Ross McArthur said: “The Nordergrunde offshore wind project in Germany is an important step for John Laing into a new market where we see a significant opportunity, and in a country we want to continue to invest into.”

John Laing received financial advice from Green Giraffe, technical advice from DNV GL, legal advice came from CMS and tax and accounting advice from PwC.

[capricious71] 17/8/2016 20:18

Yes, it's almost like a savings a/c but with a reasonable interest rate. :)

[davr0s] 17/8/2016 19:41

Agreed. But it equally doesn't tank when the market tanks - and it pays a decent divi in the meantime

[capricious71] 17/8/2016 12:58

It's taken ages for this to do anything. Maybe it's about to take off?

[mfhmfh] 12/8/2016 09:02

hitting new highs...

[igoe104] 01/7/2016 11:27

I`ve accumulated a load of these over the past year, solid investment, with a decent divi.

[igoe104] 01/7/2016 07:57

Are Tritax Big Box REIT plc, Beowulf Mining plc and John Laing Group plc post-Brexit ‘buys’ after today’s updates?




By Motley Fool | Thu, 30th June 2016 - 11:29

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Today's trading update from Tritax Big Box (LSE:BBOX) shows that the real estate investment trust (REIT) is making encouraging progress. Its portfolio is 100% let with contracted annual rental income of £78.5m. It benefits from upward-only rent reviews, of which 43% are open market, 32% are fixed uplift, 17% are inflation-linked and 8% are hybrid. Furthermore, Tritax Big Box has high quality institutional tenants: 84% of them are listed PLCs and of those, 71% are listed on the FTSE 350.

Tritax Big Box is targeting a fully covered dividend of 6.2p per share for the full year. This puts it on a yield of 4.9% following its 4% share price fall since the EU referendum. Clearly, Tritax Big Box is highly dependent on the state of the UK economy and it therefore comes with greater risk following the decision for the UK to leave the EU. It has an enticing price-to-earnings growth (PEG) ratio of 1.5, but with the potential for high volatility in its share price, as well as downgrades to profitability, it may be prudent to await further news regarding the performance of the UK economy before buying-in.

Strong pipeline

Also reporting today was infrastructure specialist John Laing (LSE:JLG). It has maintained its full-year guidance for investment commitments, namely in line with the £180.5m delivered in 2015. It has also maintained its full-year guidance for investment realisations and expects to record proceeds of £100m.

Encouragingly, Laing has a strong pipeline of new investment opportunities in public-private partnerships, renewable energy and other infrastructure sectors. Furthermore, the market for the disposal of secondary infrastructure investments remains buoyant. This bodes well for the company's future and its exposure to international markets such as North America and Asia Pacific should provide stability at a time when the UK outlook is rather uncertain.

Laing trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 6.4 and has a yield of 3.5%. This indicates that now could be an excellent time to buy it - especially with positive growth in earnings forecast for each of the next two years.

Up for discussion

Meanwhile, shares in Beowulf Mining (LSE:BEM) have soared by 37% today after it announced that the Swedish government has listed the company's application for an Exploitation Concession for Kallak North on its meeting agenda for discussion today. Although this news has been welcomed by the market (as evidenced by Beowulf's rising share price), the results are due out shortly and there can be no guarantee that they'll be favourable.

Clearly, Beowulf has considerable long-term potential and believes that it will be able to deliver a modern and sustainable mining operation in partnership with the local community at its Kallak asset. However, with the company's shares being highly volatile, it may be prudent to await further news flow before buying them. That's especially the case when there are a number of post-Brexit buying opportunities on offer

[jonwig] 30/6/2016 09:46

Pre-close update - everything in-line.

Passing reference to Brexit, of no great consequence:

We note the outcome of the UK's EU referendum, but we are an increasingly international business with a well-diversified portfolio and are working on attractive opportunities in each of our three geographical markets: Europe (including the UK), North America and Asia Pacific.

[wirralowl] 26/5/2016 15:59

Thanks guys. Finally received the dividend this afternoon. Was already in the process of leaving idealing, having had more than enough of their shoddy service.

[felix99] 26/5/2016 08:01

only one that was really late was Interactive Investor - took them till Monday night/ Tuesday am to credit it

[alan@bj] 25/5/2016 22:29

I also got paid last Friday.

[mfhmfh] 25/5/2016 18:43

I was paid the same day