Balfour Beatty eyes energy, transport and defence for growth after ‘solid’ 2023

Image: Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty’s pre-tax profit fell from £287 million (US$367.3 million) in 2022 to £244 million (US$312.3 million) last year.

The company said that this was due to gains on investment disposals being reduced as planned and pointed to its underlying profit from its earnings-based business, which increased by 1.7% to £236 million (US$302 million) in 2023.

Its order book declined to £16.5 billion (US$21.1 billion) from £17.4 billion (US$22.3 billion) the year before.

But the company said it expected to see growth over the next two years as governments focus spending on modern and reliable infrastructure to support economic growth and tackle climate change.

Balfour Beatty chief executive Leo Quinn said, “The Group’s reliability and resilience has again delivered a solid performance, with increased revenue and profit from our earnings-based businesses and strong operating cash flow. This success against a challenging economic backdrop is driven by our disciplined contract risk management across a geographically and operationally diversified portfolio.

“Looking to 2025 and beyond, we expect our unique capabilities and complex infrastructure project experience to drive further earnings growth, with attractive opportunities being pursued in the UK energy, transport and defence markets and in the US.”

Segment analysis of Balfour Beatty’s financial performance in 2023 and 2022.