StockMarketWire.com - Construction company Balfour Beatty cancelled its dividend in an effort to maintain liquidity and said it would continue to halt the sale of infrastructure investment assets until underlying conditions return to more normal levels.
In line with the current environment, the board decided to cancel the final dividend for 2019.
In May, 83% of its construction sites were open and 17% were closed, but of those opened, 17% experienced 'significant disruption due to the availability of employees, subcontractors or materials,' the company said.
In the first five months of the year, the group had not disposed of any material infrastructure investment assets. But disposals would be resumed when market conditions, which were expected to be favourable in the medium term, return to more normal levels, the company said.
The group's order book as at 30 April 2020 was £17.4bn, up 20% from £14.3bn in 2019, thanks to the addition of over £3bn of HS2 contracts following notice to proceed in April, the company said.
'The key driver of performance for the rest of the year will be improving current productivity, which will depend on the availability of employees, subcontractors and materials, whilst maintaining social distancing rules and ensuring satisfactory contractual resolution on projects impacted by Covid-19,' it added.
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