4th Mar 2015 08:03
LONDON (Alliance News) - Carillion PLC Wednesday reported higher pretax profit for 2014 after 2013 was hit by big one-off items, but revenue was flat due to the strength of sterling and its profit excluding one-off items fell slightly due to its planned reduction in the sale of equity investments in Public Private Partnership projects.
The construction and infrastructure services company's Chairman Philip Green admitted its markets had remained challenging in 2014, although the company expects a steady improvement to continue in 2015.
Carillion reported a pretax profit of GBP142.6 million for 2014, up from GBP110.6 million in 2013 when it had booked a GBP42.9 million charge for restructuring its energy services business. Excluding one-off items, its pretax profit fell to GBP172.9 million, from GBP174.7 million, reflecting its planned planned reduction in the sale of equity investments in Public Private Partnership projects, while revenue was flat at GBP4.1 billion despite a hit from the strength of sterling.
Still its cash performance was strong, with cash flow from operations excluding the one-off items representing 119% of underlying operating profit, up from 75% in 2013. It reduced its net borrowing to GBP177.3 million, from GBP215.2 million.
It said it will pay a full-year dividend of 17.75 pence for 2014, up from 17.50p in 2013.
It has also started 2015 in good shape. It won GBP5.1 billion of new and probable orders in 2014, up from GBP4.9 billion in 20313, and its order book at the end of the year stood at GBP18.6 billion, up from GBP18.0 billion. It also has up to GBP2.0 billion of framework contracts which are not included in the order book or probable orders, and its pipeline of contract opportunities rose to GBP39.2 billion, from GBP37.5 billion.
It separately said Wednesday that it has been appointed by Scape Group as the sole provider for a new facilities management framework deal with a value of up to GBP1.5 billion over six years.
"With strong cash flow, a high-quality order book, record revenue visibility and a growing pipeline of contract opportunities, we continue to believe the group is well-positioned to make progress over the medium term," Carillion Chairman Green said in the earnings statement.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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