Balfour Beatty shares slip on mixed H1

Investing.com -- Shares of Balfour Beatty (LON:BALF) were down on Wednesday following its half year results, which largely met expectations but showed mixed performance across its divisions.

At 7:15 am (1115 GMT), Balfour Beatty was trading 2.5% lower at £399.40.

As per analysts at UBS Global Research, the company's revenue rose by 3% year-on-year to align with consensus estimates. 

Profit from operations (PFO) from earnings-based businesses increased by 6%, offsetting a loss in the infrastructure business. Overall, PFO declined by 4% to £77m, missing consensus expectations.

Despite the weaker-than-expected PFO, Balfour Beatty’s strong financial position, with average net cash of £735m, puts it on track to meet its full-year target of £700m.

While the company maintained its full-year guidance, UBS said “We don’t expect consensus PFO (£240m) to change, but the mix should change somewhat with investment PFO likely lower (given the H124 loss), offset by higher PFO in the earnings-based businesses.”

UBS maintains a 'buy' rating on Balfour Beatty with a price target of 495p, stating that the results had a neutral impact on the valuation.