Balfour Beatty declares dividend boost and £125m share buyback

Balfour Beatty has announced a dividend hike and share buyback after scoring higher annual profits.

The infrastructure giant, which helped build the Channel Tunnel and London Aquatics Centre, plans to repurchase £125million of its shares in 2025.

This would take the FTSE 250 company’s overall share buybacks since 2021 to more than £940million.

It also intends to hand investors a final dividend of 8.7 pence per share, meaning its overall recommended dividend for the year totals 12.5 pence per share.

Balfour Beatty saw underlying profit from operations rise by £20million to £248million last year, largely thanks to improving margins in its UK construction arm and strong growth in its support services business.

Trading in the former segment, whose projects include the HS2 high-speed rail line and Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, benefited from improved project delivery and mix of work.

Meanwhile, the latter division boosted its revenue by 20 per cent to £1.2billion due to greater road maintenance scheme work, as well as higher power transmission and distribution activity.

Both businesses also expanded their order book, although Balfour Beatty’s US-based construction arm enjoyed the biggest uplift in orders, which soared by 27 per cent to £7.1bilion.

The segment was particularly boosted by a $746 million contract from the Texas Department of Transportation to rebuild part of the Interstate 35, a major highway running through the Central United States.

Other contracts won by Balfour Beatty during 2025 included a £363million deal from the National Grid to reinforce the electricity network in East Anglia and a £185million scheme to dual the A9 motorway in the Scottish Highlands.

Leo Quinn, chief executive of Balfour Beatty, said: ‘We once again delivered managed profitable growth from our earnings-based businesses and healthy cash generation, while also increasing our high-quality order book.

“The board continues to have confidence in Balfour Beatty’s ongoing ability to deliver sustainable cash generation for significant shareholder returns, as evidenced by our announcement of increased dividends and share buybacks for 2025.’

Bosses at the group expect operational profits from its earnings-based divisions to rise this year, underpinned by its £18.4billion order book.

Balfour Beatty shares were 0.9 per cent up at 437.6p on Wednesday morning, having soared by 36 per cent in 2024 and hit a record high earlier this year. 

Adam Vettese, a market analyst at eToro, said: ‘Shareholders will hope that today’s strong update is a platform to challenge that level again and kick on further.’ 

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