Proactive Investors - Galliford Try Holdings PLC (LON:GFRD) hiked its final dividend 29% on top of the special dividend it previously declared, as the construction group announced an improved its policy on shareholder payouts following a year when profits beat expectations.
Hailing an improved outlook and the value of its public-private partnership (PPP) assets, the construction group said its annual dividend policy will only now require 1.8x of cover from earnings per share.
So this year’s final dividend payment has been lifted to 7.5p from 5.8% last year, which together with an interim dividend of 3.0p, gives a total dividend for the financial year of 10.5p per share, up 31%.
It will be added to the 12p-per-share special dividend announced in the summer and the £10.6 million share buyback, which it said is 90% complete.
Results for the year to 30 June showed pre-exceptional profits increased by 23% to £23.4 million, as flagged in July, while statutory profits before tax rose 87% to £10.1 million.
Chief executive Bill Hocking said the company “continues to perform strongly and we are making good progress on our sustainable growth strategy, of risk-managed controlled growth” and “doing what we said we would do”.
He also highlighted that while the order book increased in size to £3.7 billion from £3.4 billion, quality was a key element along with the spread across the company’s chosen sectors.
“We are encouraged that the momentum in the business has carried into the first quarter of the new financial year and our expectations for the full year to June 2024 have now increased," he said.
With current orders already securing 92% of 2024 expected revenue, Hocking and finance director Andrew Duxbury now expect pre-exceptional profit before tax to be at the upper end of the current range of analyst forecasts.
Duxbury, who also spoke to Proactive about the results, said that the strategic focus on water infrastructure and education sectors was a key element in the company's growth trajectory