Morgan Sindall Group PLC (LON:MGNS) has declared a delayed interim dividend after announcing its full-year performance will come in slightly above the top end of guidance.
Shareholders will receive a distribution of 21p per share, in line with 2019's interim dividend, for the half-year to June 30, 2020.
When results were published in August, the construction firm was still uncertain about market conditions.
However, momentum has continued throughout the summer and after, while the government has encouraged construction activity to continue during the lockdown.
The group said it will continue operating following safety measures, so any further disruption as a result of these new restrictions is not expected to be material to the current year's performance.
Profit before tax for the year to December 31, 2020, is expected to be slightly above the £50mln-60mln range, while net cash is estimated to top forecasts at £150mln, the group said.
As of September 30 2020, the group's total secured workload was 5% higher than last year at £7.9bn.
In its Construction & Infrastructure division, the overall margin for the year will be over 2%, reflecting the high quality of client relationships, operational delivery and risk management in the division.
In Fit Out, there have been no significant changes to market dynamics or customer behaviour, while the value of tenders due in the final quarter of the year is 18% higher than for the same period last year.
All contracts have now been remobilised in Property Services and a more normal run-rate of activity is expected throughout the fourth quarter, while Partnership Housing has continued to see higher levels of construction activity as well as unit sales and completions since the half year, so its operating margin for the full year is expected to be over 3%.
Urban Regeneration has performed as expected, with all its development schemes under construction back on-site and active again, the company noted.
In Investments, the operational management for the joint venture property partnerships and Later Living business is being transferred across to Urban Regeneration and Partnership Housing during the fourth quarter and a modest level of reorganisation costs will be incurred.
These costs will be taken as normal through operating results and so the second half is expected to show a broadly similar loss to that which was reported for the first half, the firm said.
Morgan Sindall has also decided to repay the £9.5mln taken out under the government’s furlough scheme.
Shares advanced 5% to 1,227.9p on Wednesday at the opening bell.