24 Sep 2015 07:00
24th September 2015
WYG plc
Trading Update
WYG plc (WYG or the Group), the global programme, project management and technical consultancy, today provides an update on trading for the six month period ending 30th September 2015. The Group's Annual General Meeting (AGM) takes place at 10.00am today, 24th September, and its half year results are expected to be announced on 3rd December 2015.
Trading update
At the AGM the Chairman will make the following statement:
I am pleased to report that the Board expects profit before tax for the full year to be in line with recent market guidance.
During the first half of the year the Group has delivered a very strong performance in its UK business, underpinned by continuing economic growth and infrastructure spending which are the main drivers of our core front-end planning and consultancy business. Our expectation is that this will continue for the remainder of the year.
Significantly, our UK order book, which includes only fully secured projects, is up 15% on the figure we reported as at 31 March 2015. Pleasingly, not only is our order book increasing, it is also growing at a faster rate. This reflects an improving bid to win ratio on long term frameworks and the increasing flow of work from major public and private sector clients. The relatively short term nature of a large proportion of our UK order book means that work translates into revenue more quickly than in other regions, which gives us good near term visibility.
The delay in the ramp up in the EU funding cycle has been well-documented. However, as the period has progressed a large proportion of our EU-related pipeline has converted into firm project wins, such that at the half year our International businesses have delivered an even greater increase in order intake than in the UK, up more than 20% on the figure reported as at 31 March 2015. A meaningful proportion of these wins represent multi-year projects that will drive performance as we go into the second half of the year and for several years beyond.
As a consequence of the delayed ramp up in EU funding both revenue and adjusted profits before taxation at the half year will be broadly unchanged from the equivalent period last year. However, with exceptionally high order coverage in place, we anticipate posting strong growth during the second half resulting in a full year outcome in line with our expectations.
We continue to review a pipeline of acquisition opportunities and we expect some of these to progress, although the timing is hard to predict. Earlier in the year we put in place a new £25m five-year committed facility with HSBC; the flexibility that this facility has given will enable the Group to pursue such acquisitions and support growth in its core activities.
ENDS
WYG plc Tel: 0113 278 7111
Paul Hamer, Chief Executive Officer
Sean Cummins, Group Finance Director
MHP Communications Tel: 020 3128 8100
John Olsen / Katie Hunt / Ollie Hoare
N+1 Singer Tel: 020 7496 3000
Sandy Fraser / Nick Owen
WH Ireland Limited Tel: 0113 394 6600
Andrew Kitchingman / Liam Gribben