Net asset value rises as profits slide at John Laing

John Laing Group announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December on Thursday, reporting a 10.5% increase in its net asset value to £1.12bn from from £1.02bn.

The FTSE 250 company said the increase in net asset value was 13.5%, when including dividends paid in 2017.

Its net asset value per share at year-end rose to 306p from 277p at the end of 2016.

John Laing made new investment commitments of £382.9m during the year, up from £181.9m in the prior year, and well ahead of guidance.

Realisations of £289m were made from the sale of eight investments, rising from £146.6m a year earlier and also well ahead of guidance.

Profit before tax fell to £126m, from £192.1m in 2016, while earnings per share slid to 34.7p from 51.9p.

The company saw a 12% increase in external assets under management to £1.65bn as at 31 December.

Its cash yield from the investment portfolio was £40.2m, up from £34.8m in 2016, with the board also reporting a “strong” investment pipeline, including nine shortlisted public-private partnership positions.

The board declared a final dividend of 8.70p per share, in line with its policy, including a special dividend of 4.88p per share.

That would give a total 2017 dividend of 10.61p - an increase of 30.2% from 2016.

In a separate announcement on Thursday morning, the board of John Laing also announced a one for three rights issue.

“2017 was a strong year for John Laing,” said chief executive Olivier Brousse.

“We made record investment commitments, driven in large part by our success in our core Asia Pacific and North America markets.”

Brousse said the group also continued to grow its pipeline, 95% of which was now made up of opportunities outside the UK, and to scale up the business.

“We are exclusively focused on investment in greenfield projects that meet our strict criteria, and our strategy remains to generate value for shareholders through growth in NAV and dividends.”