Last Thursday morning this major UK construction group announced a cracking set of results for the year to end-June.
It showed revenues 27.2% ahead at £1,772.8m (£1,393.7m), while its pre-exceptional pre-tax profit was 39.7% higher at £32.7m (£23.4m), boosting earnings 47.6% to 27.9p (18.9p), and its dividend some 47.6% better at 15.5p (10.5p) per share.
Importantly the company reported that its average month-end cash balances were 14.9% up at £154.8m (£134.7m), while its Order Book was edging 2.7% higher at £3.8bn (£3.7bn).
The company was boosted by more building and infrastructure work – with the building division benefiting from public sector spending.
CEO Bill Hocking stated that:
"Galliford Try has delivered another year of sequential, robust revenue and margin growth.
Our strong progress, well ahead of plan, provided us with the confidence to reset our ambitions over the mid-term, and to announce our updated Sustainable Growth targets to 2030 at the Capital Markets Event held in May 2024.
Our commitment to risk management, careful contract selection and operational excellence underpins the consistent year on year performance and our future prospects.
The UK's planned, and required, investment in economic and social infrastructure continues to support growth in our chosen markets; and our confidence in the Group's outlook is supported by our carefully selected, sector focused, high quality order book which provides visibility and security of future workloads.
We will continue doing what we said we would do, consistently delivering strong performance - supported by our professional teams, a strong balance sheet, solid order book and excellent supply chain and client relationships.
We are confident in the outlook for the current financial year, with 92% of FY25 revenue already secured, and are encouraged by our recent framework and sector wins which align with our strategy to 2030 and underpin the opportunity to deliver further strong performance and sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders."
Analyst Joe Brent at Panmure Liberum rates the shares as a Buy, with a Price Objective of 415p.
His estimates for the current year to end-June 2025 are for £1,823m sales, profits of £35.0m, earnings of 25.6p and paying a 14.8p per share dividend.
For 2026 he sees £1,873m revenues, £37.9m profits, 28.1p earnings and a 16.3p dividend.
Based upon the extending Order Book, jumping even further ahead in 2027 he goes for £1,961m turnover, £41.7m profits, earnings of 30.8p and a 17.8p dividend.
At Cavendish Capital Markets, its analysts Guy Hewett and Max Hayes have a Price Objective of 417p.
They estimate lower current year sales of £1,672.6m, but with higher profits of £36.0m, 24.9m earnings and a 12.2p per share dividend.
For 2026 their figures suggest £1,700.5m sales, £40.2m profits, 27.8p earnings and 13.8p per share in dividend.
Both brokers note the group’s £10m share buy-back programme, helped by the £9.6m corporation tax refund that the company received in August.
When I featured the group at the start of last week, the shares were 303p, they closed 25p at 325p on the day of the results and ended the week at 327p, valuing it at £328m.
Hold tight, staying hopeful of further good news to help the shares continue to rise in price.
(Profile 02.02.22 @ 178p set a Target Price of 220p*)
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