Hill & Smith Holdings PLC (LON:HILS) shares renewed their push towards all-time highs after the infrastructure products maker reported good sales and profits growth from the UK and US.
With a strong US performance driven by investment in ageing infrastructure and new construction projects, while UK infrastructure spend underpinned demand despite a cautious investment environment, revenues for 2019 were up 9% to £694.7mln and profit before tax up 4% to £79.4mln.
The dividend per share was lifted 6% to 33.6p.
The company, which makes safety and security barriers and other permanent and temporary road safety furniture as well as pipes, supports and other products for the utilities market, said it continued to benefit from its “leading positions in niche infrastructure markets”.
Last summer, the company was hit by a double-digit drop in first-half profits on the back of project delays and volatile raw material input costs.
But on the outlook now, chief executive Derek Muir said while there may be “some short-term delays” in the starting of UK roads projects under the government’s five-year Road Investment Strategy (RIS 2), details are to be released by Highways England later this month and “we remain confident that we are well placed to benefit from the additional investment that RIS 2 will deliver”.
More recently, Muir said there have been “positive signals that the UK Government will continue to support spending on infrastructure overall” and that US spending on road infrastructure “continues to be robust”, with increased transportation investment from all levels of government.
Shares in the FTSE 250 company were up over 6% to 1,464.08p on Wednesday morning, regaining ground towards the general election-fuelled highs above 1,530p reached at the end of last year.