Nexus Infrastructure's shares dive as subsidiary falls short

Infrastructure services provider Nexus Infrastructure saw shares plummet on Friday after warning that the performance of its TriConnex utility unit will fall short of expectations.

Compared to 2016, TriConnex managed to increase its order book by 44% last year but the conversion of revenue from the order book has reportedly taken longer than in previous years.

Nexus said that this delay is often caused by the fact that TriConnex is appointed very early on in the preconstruction stage, often before premises have even been secured, and thus there is often a long period of time before work can even begin on a site.

This leads to revenues being contributed over a four or five year period in some cases, rather than the company seeing immediate returns.

Despite this, the company expects both its profits and revenues to see a year-on-year rise, with Nexus’ total order book at £234.1m, an increase of 30% over the previous year.

Mike Morris, chief executive of Nexus, said: “The depth and breadth of our customer base and geographic presence coupled with our existing order book, which continues to grow, will position us for future growth. Longer term we believe the structural undersupply of housing in the UK will continue to drive demand for the group's critical services and the board is therefore confident for the future.”

As of 1243 BST, Nexus Infrastructure’s shares were down 16.40% at 209.00p.