Costain shares soar as HS2 railway project gets green light

(Sharecast News) - Shares in infrastructure company Costain rose by more than a third on Wednesday as the company confirmed its joint venture had been given the green light to start building phase one of Britain's second high-speed railway.
The contract, worth ?3.298bn to the Skanka Costain Strabarg joint venture as a whole, will involve the design and construction of major tunnels in the approach to the London terminus at Euston station, the company said on Wednesday. It was estimated that phase one of the works would create 6,000 jobs.

Costain said construction on site is paused for all but safety-critical works due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the delayed start, the contract was not expected to make a significant contribution to the group's profitability until 2021 onwards.

Costain was also awarded a separate ?210m design and build contract by Highways England to upgrade an existing section of the A30 north of Truro, Cornwall.

As a result of the news the company's shares soared 33.3% on Wednesday to 73p.