RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2017
John Laing Group plc (John Laing or the Company or the Group) announces its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2017.
Highlights
· Net asset value (NAV) of £1,040.4 million at 30 June 2017
- 2.3% increase since 31 December 2016
- 4.6% increase including dividend paid in May 2017
· NAV per share at 30 June 2017 of 284p (31 December 2016 - 277p)1
· £111.3 million in investment commitments (six months ended 30 June 2016 - £76.0 million)2
· Realisations of £151.3 million from the sale of investments in project companies (six months ended 30 June 2016 - £57.7 million)
· Profit before tax of £36.6 million (six months ended 30 June 2016 - £108.3 million) and earnings per share (EPS) of 10.2p (six months ended 30 June 2016 - 29.1p)3
· 7.4% increase in external Assets under Management to £1,582 million4 since 31 December 2016
· Interim dividend of 1.91p per share payable in October 2017 (six months ended 30 June 2016 - 1.85p per share)
· New Royal Adelaide Hospital operational; agreement reached on Manchester Waste
· Strong pipeline, including 11 shortlisted PPP positions
· 2017 guidance for investment commitments and realisations maintained
Olivier Brousse, John Laing's Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"It has been an active year so far and I am pleased to report growth in NAV, after taking into account the reduction in value on our two Manchester Waste investments. We have made good progress on investment commitments and disposals and are on track to achieve our full year guidance on both fronts. As regards our portfolio, the New Royal Adelaide Hospital reached a key milestone with its commercial acceptance by the Government of South Australia in June, and our team was instrumental in getting to this stage. Looking to the second half and beyond, our teams continue to bring forward a steady stream of new investments, while the asset management teams are actively managing projects through the construction phase. We continue to see strong opportunities for attractive growth in our business by scaling up our model in our three core regions: North America, Asia Pacific and Europe."
Notes:
(1) Calculated as NAV at 30 June 2017 of £1,040.4 million (31 December 2016 - £1,016.8 million) divided by number of shares in issue at 30 June 2017 of 366.96 million (31 December 2016 - 366.92 million)
(2) Based on new investment commitments secured in the six months ended 30 June 2017; for further details see the Primary Investment section of the Business Review
(3) Basic EPS; see note 7 to the Condensed Group Financial Statements
(4) Based on published portfolio values of JLIF and JLEN at 31 March 2017
A presentation for analysts and investors will be held at 9:00am (London time) today at The Lincoln Centre, 18 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3ED. A webcast of the presentation and a conference call facility will be accessible using the details below.