8th Sep 2015 07:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Construction services company ISG PLC Tuesday said it swung to a loss in the year to the end of June following a tough start to the year and restructuring in its construction arm, but said conditions improved in the second half and it thinks the worst is now behind it, sending its shares higher in early trade.
ISG said it made a pretax loss of GBP12.9 million in the year to the end of June, compared to a GBP6.8 million profit a year earlier, as it booked GBP19.9 million in costs related to the restructuring of its construction business and losses it made on contracts that division secured in 2012 and 2013.
But the group said the turnaround of its construction business is now substantially complete and said conditions for the entire business improved significantly in the second half, with particularly good trading in its fit out, engineering services and retail businesses.
"We believe that the poor performance and painful restructuring of the UK Construction division is now behind us, and with the outlook for most of our key markets remaining strong, we expect a much improved overall performance for the group in the year ahead," said Chief Executive David Lawther.
ISG's revenue for the full year was up to GBP1.63 billion from GBP1.46 billion, with very strong performances from its fit out and engineering services units, boosted by a strong London fit out market and European data centre contracts for the engineering services arm. The UK retail unit also continued to perform well, and ISG said its results improved in Asia and the Middle East as it worked on expanding its presence in those markets.
The group's order book rose 14% year-on-year to the end of June, up to GBP1.12 billion from GBP984.0 million.
The group will pay a final dividend of 5.00 pence per share, up from 4.91 pence. It waived its interim dividend due to the problems in its UK construction arm, having paid out 4.54 pence per share a year earlier.
ISG shares were up 5.4% to 167.50 pence on Tuesday morning, one of the best performers in the AIM All-Share.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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