Galliford Try: Shares rise as construction firm continues hot streak
Galliford Try has continued to its strong streak of performance over recent years, reporting profit and cash ahead of analyst expectations.
The construction firm had £210m in cash by the end of 2024, while its order book had grown from £3.7bn to £3.9bn throughout the year, it said in a trading update today.
In early trades, its share price rose by more than eight per cent.
“Galliford continues to deliver strategic, operational and financial progress,” said Peel Hunt analyst Andrew Nussey.
“The outlook remains confident, supported by continued order book growth, improved framework participation,and a good bid pipeline.”
While growth was well spread across all Galliford’s operations, there was particularly strong momentum in the water sector.
Over the last six months, the firm said it had been appointed to build two building projects in London with a combined value of £87m, the £88.9m South East Aylesbury Link Road, and the £3.7bn Wessex Water AMP8 Framework, among others.
In October, the group launched a share buyback programme for up to £10m, and said today it had so far bought about £5.1m of shares.
Galliford’s stock price has surged almost 30 per cent in the last three months, thanks in part to the programme. It is up 58 per cent in the last year, currently sitting at 361p.
Peel Hunt analysts raised the group’s target price as a result of the trading update, bringing it from 450p to 475p.
“Our strong performance in the first half of the financial year provides increased confidence for the full year,” said Galliford chief executive Bill Hocking.
“We are pleased with our successes on the new AMP8 frameworks and the opportunities we see across all our chosen sectors. We have excellent people and project teams, a strong balance sheet and a high-quality carefully selected order book.
“Encouraged by our performance in the first six months of the year and the robust outlook, our expectations for the full year to June 2025 have improved accordingly.”