John Laing Group plc Strategy update (4447G)

TIDMJLG

RNS Number : 4447G

John Laing Group plc

25 November 2020

25 November 2020

John Laing Group plc

Strategy update

Delivering attractive and sustainable returns

John Laing Group plc ("John Laing" or "the Group") announced at its half year results in August that a strategic review of the Group was underway, led by recently appointed Chief Executive Officer, Ben Loomes. The Group is today presenting the results of that review and setting out its future priorities.

Commenting on the future strategy, Ben Loomes, said , "Following a comprehensive review of the business, we are today announcing a future strategy to position John Laing for sustainable growth. This builds on John Laing's strong competitive position and track record in greenfield infrastructure development and enables us to benefit from the positive market outlook for infrastructure investment around the world. Through broadening our investment platform into adjacent areas in infrastructure, improving the efficiency of our operating model, and diversifying our sources of funding, while remaining focused on investing in infrastructure that respond to public needs, we will be able to deliver attractive and more sustainable shareholder returns."

John Laing's future strategy is built around three priorities. These are to:

Grow by creating a scalable and more diversified platform that capitalises on the Group's existing strong greenfield PPP projects expertise. This will include investing in adjacent greenfield infrastructure project opportunities as well as developing an investment capability in mid-market Core-plus economic infrastructure businesses and platforms. John Laing continues to see attractive greenfield investment opportunities in its core markets of North America and Australia, as well as in Colombia, while the UK and Western Europe are expected to be the initial focus for investment in Core-plus infrastructure.

Optimise through a more disciplined and centralised approach to portfolio and capital management, including strengthening investment, asset management and divestment processes, and greater operational efficiency. The Group is targeting annualised run-rate operating cost savings of GBP6 million (including a reduction of approximately 15% of total headcount) from re-focusing and centralising the business, and these savings will be re-allocated to investing in growth initiatives, including building a Core-plus investment team.

Enhance by developing additional capabilities to support the future strategy, further embedding and integrating ESG considerations into the Group's processes and activities, and strengthening the Group's funding model. John Laing believes that there is an opportunity to further leverage our platform and create additional shareholder value through managing third-party capital alongside its balance sheet.

John Laing anticipates that this strategy is capable of delivering sustainable returns of between 9 and 12% per annum, to be achieved over the medium term.

Presentation

A presentation of our update will be web-cast for analysts and investors today at 2:00pm (GMT) and will be followed by a live Q&A session starting at c.3:40pm (GMT), also accessible on the same platform. The link to register for the web-cast is available on our website at:

https://johnlaing.connectid.cloud/register

Presentation materials will be available on John Laing's website shortly before the event begins.

For further information, please contact [e-mail]

Enquiries:

 
 Analyst & investors: 
 Kellie McAvoy           Head of Investor Relations    [phone] 
 
 Media: 
 Tashi Lassalle          Director of Communications    [phone] 
 
 Matthew Denham          Teneo                         [phone] 
 Camilla Cunningham      Teneo                         [phone] 
 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

END

UPDQELBLBFLXFBV

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 25, 2020 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)