Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Balfour Beatty PLC on Friday said that trading since the start of 2023 has been in line with expectations.
The London-based infrastructure construction firm said at the end of March, the order book fell 2.3% to £17.0 billion from £17.4 billion at the end of December.
The company added that it expects 2023 profit from operations from its earnings-based business to be broadly in line with 2022. Profit from operations in 2022 was £83 million, down 14% from £97 million in 2021.
Balfour noted that new projects added in the first quarter of 2023 include a £297 million seven-year East Sussex road maintenance contract, a $242 million design-build highways contract in North Carolina and $230 million of data centres in the US northwest.
The company said in the quarter, the average monthly closing net cash balance fell 9.2% to £740 million from an average of £815 million for the year 2022.
Looking ahead, Balfour continues to anticipate a 2023 working capital outflow between £75 million and £125 million, widened from £54 million in 2022, and to complete the £150 million share buyback by the end of the year, with half of that completed to date.
Balfour Beatty shares were 0.1% lower at 389.80 pence each in London on Friday morning.
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.