Balfour Beatty average monthly net cash balances increase

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty said on Thursday that overall year-to-date trading had been in line with expectations, including a continuation of its recent strong cash performance.

Balfour Beatty said its average monthly closing net cash balance increased to around £800.0m over the first four months of 2022, up from 2021's full-year average of £671.0m. However, it also noted that upon completion of its 2022 share buyback, as well as some expected normalisation of working capital, average monthly net cash for the full year was expected to be "moderately lower" than the first four months of the year.

The FTSE 250-listed group stated that its order book was £15.6bn as of 31 March, down from £16.1bn at the end of December, which includes the recent award of the $698.0m Fort Meade design and construct contract in Maryland by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Balfour Beatty said it remains confident that it will deliver managed growth in profits in 2022, building on the £181.0m delivered by the earnings-based businesses in 2021. Balfour also noted it has a number of asset disposals planned for 2022 that it hopes will meet return requirements.

Chief executive Leo Quinn said: "We remain confident that the group is well positioned for 2022 and beyond. Our business portfolio has been transformed to focus on the growing infrastructure markets of the UK, US, and Hong Kong - each underpinned by strong government investment programmes.

"The strength of our balance sheet and the higher quality of our order book will enable us to maximise these opportunities for profitable growth while remaining resilient to the current macro-economic challenges."

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com