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Balfour Beatty PLC on Wednesday held its interim dividend steady, as it said it continues to expect operating earnings in 2023 to be about the same as in 2022. The London-based infrastructure construction firm said pretax profit was £82 million in the six months that ended June 30, ticking down from £83 million a year before. Underlying pretax profit, however, was £97 million, up 13% from £86 million. Revenue rose by 9.2% to £4.53 billion from £4.15 billion. Balfour said it remains on track for the full-year expectations that it set out in May, when the company guided for 2023 profit from operations from earnings-based businesses to be broadly in line with 2022. Underlying profit from operations from earnings-based businesses in 2022 was £232 million, up from £181 million in 2021. In the first half of 2023, it was £95 million, up from £85 million a year before. Balfour also pointed to its pipeline of new business for confidence in its long-term outlook. Its order book stood at £16.4 billion on June 30, down 7.3% from £17.7 billion a year before. Balfour held its interim dividend at 3.5 pence per share and said its £150 million share buyback is on track to be completed in the fourth quarter. Average net cash during the recent half-year was £695 million, down from £804 million a year before. Balfour shares were down 0.6% at 344.60 pence in London early Wednesday. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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