The perennial whipping boy of the listed construction companies, Costain has suffered from the fact that three offshore shareholders own nearly 75% of its stock. That and the small matter of notching up losses of more than $600m in the early 1990s.
This has seen investors give the stock a wide berth, but there are signs that the City is slowly but surely warming to the group, and Stuart Doughty, its new chief executive. He took over from John Armitt last week.
Costain's slow but steady rise is in contrast to the fortunes of its more highly regarded competitors.
The problem here seems to be the uncertainty over the PFI market after its recent kicking from the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Audit Commission, neither of whom were happy with the private sector's profit margin.
Amec's share price has fallen 70p in the last few weeks to 462p, Carillion's shares are down 50p at 160p and Balfour Beatty shares have fallen more than 50p to 170p in recent weeks.
