Shares jump 13% after contractor reveals higher expectations for this year's pre-tax profit

Balfour Beatty is expecting higher pre-tax profits for this year than first estimated.

Profits are expected to reach £195m by the time results will be revealed in March next year, rather than £182m to £183m as the 2007 analyst consensus outlined.

The announcement caused Balfour Beatty’s shares to advance by 13% to 508.5p, the company’s highest daily increase since 2002. According to Bloomberg, the company now has an estimated market value of £2.15bn.

Tim Sharp, Balfour Beatty director of corporate communications, said that “all businesses are doing better than previously expected”.

Especially the acquisition of US-based company Centex proved highly rentable. “We always thought Centex would do well, but it is doing much better than we expected”, Sharp said. “There are also a few projects in the UK, US and Asia that are doing very well”, he added.

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