Balfour Beatty plc (LSE:BBY) has hiked its interim dividend after revenue and profit ticked up over the first half of the year.
A 3.8p dividend per share will be paid out for the half year, Balfour said in results on Wednesday, up 9% on a year earlier.
This is after revenue climbed by 3% to £4.7 billion over the six months to June, with underlying profit from operations up 6% to £101 million.
According to the FTSE 250-listed infrastructure group, the outlook for complex projects remains “encouraging,” despite a series of plans being scrapped under Britain’s new Labour government.
This includes UK energy and transport infrastructure projects, Balfour said, alongside an uptick in defence spending.
“This direction of travel is positive for Balfour Beatty in the medium term,” the group said.
Balfour reiterated progress was being made on key projects for “key” customers SSE PLC (LSE:SSE), National Grid PLC (LSE:NG.), BP PLC (LSE:BP.) and Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.).
The group’s order book increased by £100 million to £16.6 billion, while average net cash was also higher than a year earlier at £735 million.