23rd May 2018 11:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - HICL Infrastructure Co Ltd on Wednesday reported a lower annual profit due to the liquidation of construction company Carillion PLC.
The infrastructure investment company said that Carillion's liquidation in January had a GBP59.3 million negative impact on pretax profit for the year ended March 31, which fell to GBP122.1 million from GBP177.1 the prior year.
HICL's total income fell to GBP124.1 million from 178.6 million year on year.
Nonetheless, the company increased its dividend to 136.4 pence per share for the financial year, up from 108.2p per share the year before.
Net asset value per share was stood at 149.6p, slightly up from the 149.0p recorded the previous year. Earnings per share nearly halved to 6.9p from 12.4p the year before.
Carillion provided facilities management services for ten of the company's public-private partnerships - approximately 14% of its portfolio. HICL was forced to source replacement contractors after its collapse.
Despite this significant setback, the board said it had "conviction in the long-term strategic direction for the company" and that the risk profile of its business model was "fundamentally unchanged". The company also drew attention to its increased dividend in its most recent year.
"HICL delivered its target dividend for the year, and the board is pleased to re-confirm the guidance of 8.05p per share for the year ending March 31 2019; and 8.25p per share for the following financial year," said HICL Chairman Ian Russell.
Shares in HICL were down 1.0% at 143.50p each on Wednesday morning.
Related Shares:
HICL Infrastructure