5th Mar 2019 10:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 250-listed infrastructure project investor John Laing Group PLC raised its 2018 dividend Tuesday after assets increased strongly in a "resilient" performance for the firm.
In 2018, net asset value per share rose 15% to 323 pence from 281 pence the year prior. This was after net asset value expanded 42% to GBP1.59 billion from GBP1.12 billion the year before. Pretax profit more than doubled to GBP296.6 million from GBP126.0 million the year before.
"We are pleased with the net asset value we generated in 2018," John Laing Chief Executive Officer Olivier Brousse said. "Our diversified portfolio of projects has once again proved resilient and our teams have actively managed our projects both under construction and operation."
John Laing proposed a 7.7p final dividend per share, of which 4.1p is a special payment. For the full year, the dividend rose 6.5% to 9.50p from 8.92p the year before.
"Since the rights issue in March 2018, we have continued to grow our pipeline of investment opportunities whilst looking to reduce our exposure to local political and macroeconomic uncertainties through a more diversified portfolio," Brousse added. "We are carefully expanding our model into new sectors and new countries, on the back of strong relationships with international partners and with the benefit of our expanded capital base."
In March, John Laing raised GBP210.5 million through a one-for-three rights issue. This was in order to "increase the scale of the business over the medium term."
"Looking forward," Brousse continued, "we are confident in our ability to continue to generate value from our existing portfolio and to take advantage of both an active secondary market to recycle our capital and a strong pipeline of opportunities in order to invest in existing and new markets."
Shares in John Laing were 2.0% higher at 385.60 pence on Tuesday.
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