Balfour Beatty in strong position

Balfour Beatty’s robust full-year financial results for 2017 were said to demonstrate the success of the group’s Build to Last programme.

The UK-based construction firm’s underlying profit from operations more than doubled to £196 million (€221 million), from £69 million (€77.8 million) in 2016.

Balfour Beatty enjoyed a growth in profit from operations across all of its earnings-based businesses, and the company’s year-end net cash stood at £335 million (€377.8 million), up significantly from the £173 million (€195.1 million) recorded in the previous year.

The partial sales of Connect Plus – the company that operates the UK’s M25 orbital motorway around London – in recent months were said to be in line with the company’s strategy to maximise value from its investments portfolio. The directors’ valuation of the investments portfolio remained unchanged at £1.2bn (€1.35 billion).

Balfour Beatty’s rebased order book stood at £11.4 billion (€12.85 billion). Although this was down from £12.4 billion (€13.98 billion) in the previous year, the order book was said to be of higher quality.

The company’s CEO, Leo Quinn, said, “The group has been repositioned to drive sustainable growth in profits, underpinned by a strong balance sheet. It has the right culture and capabilities to capitalise on the rising tide of infrastructure spend in our chosen markets.

“As a result of Build to Last, and the governance and controls now in place, we remain on track to achieve industry-standard margins in the second half of 2018.”