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(Alliance News) - Morgan Sindall Group PLC on Wednesday hailed a record first-half as it reported strong growth in revenue, profit and orders.
The London-based construction and regeneration company said revenue in the half-year to June 30 climbed 14% to GBP1.94 billion from GBP1.70 billion the year before. Pretax profit rose 8% to GBP58.0 million from GBP53.7 million and earnings per share advanced 6% to 100 pence from 94.3p.
The order book of GBP9.1 billion at the year-end was 7% higher than GBP8.5 billion last year and the strong financial performance saw shareholders rewarded with a 9.1% increase in the dividend to 36 pence from 33p.
Chief Executive John Morgan said: "We've had a record first half of the year, notably from our Fit Out business which has delivered another outstanding performance in the period, demonstrating the high quality of this business."
"Although the wider economic backdrop remains challenging, conditions have generally eased across many of our markets as the year has progressed," Morgan said.
The firm, which increased expectations for the full year in June, said there had been no change to forecasts since then and it remains confident of delivering another record performance.
The company noted an excellent performance from Fit Out where operating profit soared 43% to GBP30.4 million from GBP21.2 million. Medium-term targets have been significantly upgraded to reflect market opportunities and the high quality of business, the company said.
Construction delivered good revenue growth, up 20% to GBP470 million, with margin in its target range at 2.6%. Infrastructure posted a strong performance with revenue up 15% to GBP428 million at an operating margin of 3.7%.
But cost pressures and operational challenges in Property Services drove a trading loss of GBP4.1 million compared to an operating profit of GBP2.5 million a year ago.
Shares in Morgan Sindall closed down 0.6% at 1,912 pence in London on Wednesday.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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