Costain lifts FY pre-tax profit, dividend with record forward orders

Shares in Costain are up more than 2% after turned in an improved full-year pre-tax profit and dividend, along with a record high-quality forward order book.

The engineering group's reported pre-tax profit was £30.9m, from £26.0m, with total dividend of 12.7p a share, from 11.0p.

Its forward order book was maintained at record level of £3.9bn, unchanged on the year. There was more than £1.2bn of revenue secured for 2017, with £2.7bn secured for 2018 and beyond.

Chair Paul Golby said the group's continuing success was the direct result of its 'Engineering Tomorrow' strategy and the deliberate acceleration of growth, both organically and by targeted acquisition.

"Costain is well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that lie immediately ahead and this, combined with the good visibility we have over the medium-term, reinforces our confidence for the future," said Golby in a statement.

At 10:41 GMT, shares in Costain were up 2.12% to 397.25p each.