14th Nov 2013 09:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - Engineering and project management consultancy WS Atkins PLC Thursday said it full-year outlook is running ahead of expectations, after reporting strong revenue and profit growth in the first half driven by UK projects like widening sections of the M25 and upgrading the rail network.
Signalling its confidence, it raised its interim dividend to 10.5 pence, from 10p, after reporting a pretax profit of GBP54.8 million for the six months to end-September, up from GBP47.8 million a year earlier. Its revenues rose to GBP915.4 million, from GBP815.7 million.
"Our operational excellence programme is delivering efficiencies and a strong cash performance and, with underlying Group headcount growing, we have positive momentum going into the second half. The outlook for the full year is slightly ahead of expectations," the company said.
Revenues were up 16.1% and operating profit up 5.6% in the UK thanks to its work as part of a consortium widening sections of the London orbital motorway and as it got more rail work to upgrade signalling and stations and electrify some lines.
"The (UK) business has a strong pipeline and there are a number of future opportunities following the UK Government's 2013 Comprehensive Spending Review which indicated a significant increase in infrastructure spend over the next seven years, including road improvements," it said.
Revenues also rose in all other regions, with Asia Pacific performing best with a 19.4% increase and Europe the worst with a 0.5% rise. Its energy business also performed strongly with revenue up 15% and operating profit up 14.3%.
WS Atkins shares were up 4.2% at 1,306.48 pence Thursday morning, one of the biggest gainers on the FTSE 250.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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