Shares in Balfour Beatty plc (LSE:BBY) jumped 6.5% to 747.82p in early trading after the construction and infrastructure group delivered full-year earnings per share 7% ahead of analyst forecasts, with a larger-than-expected share buyback adding further fuel to the rally.
The order book stood at £22.7 billion at year end, up 23% and including more UK power generation and defence contracts, along with US building work providing visibility out to 2027.
Panmure Liberum analyst Joe Brent said the earnings beat was driven by higher disposal gains, lower interest and tax costs, and a better-than-feared performance from the US division, which delivered second-half profit of £25 million against guidance of around £20 million despite cost overruns at one civils project.
Average net cash came in at £1.2 billion, slightly ahead of forecasts, and Balfour Beatty completed its pension triennial review, bringing an end to deficit contributions beyond 2026 that had historically run at £24 million a year.
The £200 million buyback announced alongside the results was well ahead of the £125 million-plus that Brent had pencilled in, and he estimated it would be 2% and 4% earnings accretive in 2026 and 2027 respectively.
Brent saw a US recovery as likely as the problematic civils job completes mid-year, and a revised 2026 price-to-earnings multiple of 14 times as a further reason to remain positive on the shares.