Morgan Sindall Group PLC (LSE:MGNS) (LON:MGNS) was the top FTSE 350 riser on Thursday after an unscheduled but impressive trading update as its Construction & Infrastructure division took a starring role.
The construction, fit-out, property services and housing partnerships group said full-year results were likely to be “significantly” ahead of last year, with profit before tax in the first half of around £53mln, up 238% on this point last year and 46% better than the comparative pre-pandemic period in 2019.
All divisions made positive operational and strategic progress in the period, the company said, with Construction & Infrastructure delivering a standout performance with strong margin and profit growth.
The performance of this division, together with the forward visibility provided by its order book, indicates “a likely out-turn for the full year which is significantly stronger than previously expected”.
The group’s secured workload at the half-year stage also increased to £8.3bn from £8.1bn at the end of the first quarter.
Broker Liberum upgraded its recommendation to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ on the back of the update and expectations that the company can mitigate increasing input costs.
Analysts hiked their share price target to 2,600p from 2,350p as forecast earnings per share for the full year were upped 12% to 213p and for 2022 by 4% to 201p, following on from the previous upgrade in April.