12th Nov 2015 08:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - WS Atkins PLC, a design, engineering and project management consultancy, on Thursday said its pretax profit surged in the first half thanks to higher revenue, leaving it in line to meet its expectations for the full year.
The FTSE 250-listed company said its pretax profit for the half to the end of September was GBP53.8 million, up 38% from the GBP39.0 million it made a year earlier. Revenue for the group rose to GBP904.6 million from GBP831.4 million.
Atkins said it saw significant improvements in trading in the UK and Europe in the half, along with a strong performance for its Middle East operations. The group is making progress in North America, where it is focusing investment to drive growth.
Asia Pacific was in line in the half, though took a hit from the slowdown in the Chinese economy, and Atkins said its Energy practice had a tough period, despite good growth from its nuclear, power and renewables units.
Atkins will pay an interim dividend of 11.7 pence per share, up from 11.0p a year earlier.
"This is another good set of results with strong growth in both revenue and underlying profitability. Our outlook for the full year remains unchanged," said Chief Executive Uwe Krueger,
"While short-term market uncertainty exists in some of our sectors, our strategic focus has put us in a strong position to benefit from longer-term growth. As urbanisation increases, infrastructure spending across the globe is predicted to grow significantly in the medium-term and we are well placed to benefit from this investment," he added.
Shares in Atkins were up 0.1% to 1,363.00p on Thursday morning.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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