Balfour Beatty shares slide on mixed first half by Investing.com

Investing.com — Shares of Balfour Beatty (LON: ) fell on Wednesday following its half-year results, which largely met expectations but showed mixed performance across its divisions.

At 7:15 a.m. (1115 GMT), Balfour Beatty was trading 2.5 percent lower at £399.40.

According to analysts at UBS Global Research, the company’s revenue rose 3% year over year to match consensus estimates.

Profit from operations (PFO) in the earnings-based business rose 6%, offsetting a loss in the infrastructure business. Overall, PFO fell 4% to £77m, missing consensus expectations.

Despite a weaker-than-expected PFO, Balfour Beatty’s strong financial position, with average net cash of £735m, puts it on track to hit its full-year target of £700m.

While the company maintained its guidance for the full year, UBS said: “We do not expect the consensus PFO (£240m) to change, but the mix should change somewhat, with the PFO investment likely lower (given the H124 loss), offset by higher PFO in the earnings-driven business.”

UBS maintains a “buy” rating on Balfour Beatty with a price target of 495p, saying the results had a neutral impact on the rating.