Morgan Sindall expects to beat its FY guidance, declares dividend

At the time of the half year results in August, the company said it expected pre-tax profit for the year to the end of December 2020 to be between £50m-£60m. Based on its performance to date and the fact that it will be able to keep operating during the second lockdown that comes into force on Thursday, Morgan Sindall now expects to beat this guidance.

The construction and regeneration group noted that its cash position has strengthened and said the average daily net cash for the full year is now expected to be in excess of £150m, versus £99m last year, ahead of previous expectations.

Morgan Sindall also declared an interim dividend of 21p a share, in line with last year’s. At the time of the half-year results, it had said there was too much market uncertainty to declare a dividend but committed to actively consider the resumption of payments when there was more clarity over the economic outlook.

Chief executive John Morgan said: "Following the disruption earlier in the year, all of the group's activities are now fully operational again and delivering high levels of productivity. We welcome the Prime Minister's clear statement that construction activity should continue through the new lockdown restrictions in England for November and we anticipate operating safely throughout with minimal impact.

"Our high-quality secured workload gives us good visibility for the rest of the year and as such, we now expect to deliver a full year performance slightly above the top end of our previous expectations."