Balfour Beatty plc (LON:BBY) shares traded positively on Thursday following news of a partial sale of M25 motorway operator Connect Plus to Dalmore Capital for £103mln.
The company, in a statement, highlighted that the transaction value exceeds a recent valuation taken at the end of June and that the proceeds will be used to pay down debt.
Additionally, the company now expects group profit before tax and year end net cash will both be higher than anticipated previously, in the trading update on December 12.
“The expected profit on disposal on this transaction at £53 million is £37 million higher than the market consensus of £16 million for Infrastructure Investments profit on disposal in 2017,” the company. said
Balfour Beatty has also entered into arrangements with funds managed by Equitix Investment Management and Dalmore, which could see a further 12.5% of Connect Plus to be sold up until May 13 2018.
Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty group chief executive, said: "This transaction emphasises the ongoing attractiveness of our infrastructure assets and is in line with our declared intent to maximise value for shareholders."